The question of how mother holds a tin opener (6)
I believe the answer is:
matter
'the question' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'mother holds a tin opener' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'mater' (old-fashioned term for mother).
'holds' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'opener' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'tin' is 't'.
'mater' enclosing 't' is 'MATTER'.
'of how' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for matter that I've seen before include "Carry weight" , "It occupies space, has substance" , "It has mass and occupies space" , "Stuff - mean something" , "Substance; topic" .)