Make up with contrary American uncle and take vehicle to middleman (7)
I believe the answer is:
mascara
'make up' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'contrary american uncle and take vehicle to middleman' is the wordplay.
'contrary' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'american uncle' becomes 'Sam' (Uncle Sam is a nickname for the USA).
'and take' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'vehicle' becomes 'car' (car is a kind of vehicle).
'to middleman' becomes 'a' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sam' written backwards gives 'mas'.
'mas'+'car'+'a'='MASCARA'
'with' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mascara that I've seen before include "that accentuates lashes" , "Maracas (anag.)" , "Type of make-up" , "Cosmetic for darkening the eyelashes" , "Make-up for eyelashes" .)