Mother and boy in the building trade (5)
I believe the answer is:
mason
'the building trade' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'mother and boy' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'boy' becomes 'son' (synonyms).
'ma'+'son'='MASON'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mason that I've seen before include "figure in lodge" , "one wearing an apron" , "A worker in stone - may be free" , "Actor James" , "One going to work in building" .)