Tradesman female singer permitted inside (8)
I believe the answer is:
fletcher
'tradesman' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'female singer permitted inside' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (common abbreviation).
'singer' becomes 'cher' (American singer).
'permitted' becomes 'let' (to let something happen is to permit it).
'inside' is an insertion indicator.
'f'+'cher'='fcher'
'fcher' placed around 'let' is 'FLETCHER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fletcher that I've seen before include "Arrow-maker" , "Old playwright" , "Maybe Christian" , "who makes weapons" , "One makes arrows" .)