Write "The animal is hiding in the trees" (6)
I believe the answer is:
aspens
'trees' is the definition.
(aspen is a kind of tree)
'write the animal is hiding' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'write' could be 'pen' (synonyms) and 'pen' is found within the answer.
'animal' could be 'ass' (I've seen this before) and 'ass' is located in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aspens that I've seen before include "Quivering poplars" , "Kind of poplars with shivering leaves" , "Poplar trees that shiver in the wind" , "Trees with leaves that quiver" , "Species of poplars with leaves that quiver" .)