Twist a short tournament for tropical tree-dwellers (9)
I believe the answer is:
kinkajous
'tournament for tropical tree-dwellers' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'twist a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'twist' could be 'kink' (kinking is a kind of twisting) and 'kink' is present in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'short' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for kinkajous that I've seen is " Fruit-eaters".)