Yet someone has to pull the trigger (9)
I believe the answer is:
automatic
'trigger' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'yet someone has to pull the' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'to' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for automatic that I've seen before include "Like George" , "Instinctive or mechanical" , "Working by itself" , "Functioning without human intervention" , "Unmanned" .)