Issue with European ceremony (4,3,6)
I believe the answer is:
spit and polish
'ceremony' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.
'issue with european' is the wordplay.
'issue' becomes 'spit' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'with' becomes 'and'.
'european' becomes 'Polish ' (Poland is in Europe).
'spit'+'and'+'polish'='SPIT AND POLISH'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spit and polish that I've seen before include "Good clean activity" , "(Military) attention to order and appearance" , "Punctilious attention to cleanliness, discipline, etc" , "zealous neatness" , "Cleaning of equipment to excess - ceremony and formality" .)