Thick-skinned individual left during fight with America (6)
I believe the answer is:
walrus
'thick-skinned individual' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'left during fight with america' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'during' is an insertion indicator.
'fight with' becomes 'war' (warring is a kind of fighting. I am not sure about the 'with' bit.).
'america' becomes 'US' (United States).
'l' inserted into 'war' is 'walr'.
'walr'+'us'='WALRUS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for walrus that I've seen before include "Sea mammal, the morse" , "Marine mammal with two long tusks" , "Arctic dwellers" , "Carpenter's companion?" , "'The time has come', the . . . said" .)