Type of work aspiration for Cockney artist (5)
I believe the answer is:
opera
'type of work' is the definition.
(type of musical work)
'aspiration for cockney artist' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'artist' could be 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts) and 'ra' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ope' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for opera that I've seen before include "Eg, Rigoletto" , "some theatrics" , "Dramatic genre" , ""The Magic Flute", for example" , "Comic or grand entertainment?" .)