A well preserved old woman (5)
I believe the answer is:
mummy
'preserved old woman' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'a well' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'well' could be 'my' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'my' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'mum' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mummy that I've seen before include "one kept under wraps" , "Preserved Egyptian" , "Ancient Egyptian wrapped up" , "Mother, informally" , "Embalmed body of Pharaoh" .)