You can credit a fish with finishing up in one (5)
I believe the answer is:
creel
'you can' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'credit a fish with finishing up in one' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'credit' could be 'cr' (abbreviation) and 'cr' is found in the answer.
'fish' could be 'eel' (eel is a type of fish) and 'eel' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for creel that I've seen before include "Container for fish" , "Angler's wicker basket" , "Wicker basket for fish" , "Fish-basket" , "Fisherman's basket" .)