Play in dirty yard initially covering very small area (5,5)

'play' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'dirty yard initially covering very small area' is the wordplay.
'dirty' becomes 'unclean' ('unclean' is associated in meaning with 'dirty'**).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'covering' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'very' becomes 'v' (abbreviation).
'small area' becomes 'a' (abbreviation for area often seen in geometry).
The first letter of 'yard' is 'y'.
'unclean'+'y'='uncleany'
'uncleany' enclosing 'v' is 'unclevany'.
'unclevany'+'a'='UNCLE VANYA'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?