Plucky yet timid, health officer nervously faces snake (6)
I believe the answer is:
python
'snake' is the definition.
(python is a kind of snake)
'plucky yet timid health officer nervously faces' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'yet' could be 'tho' (tho' short for though) and 'tho' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for python that I've seen before include "Constrictor snake" , "Tropical non-venomous snake" , "Dragon killed by Apollo at Delphi" , "Large tropical snake that crushes its prey" , "Snake that kills its prey by squeezing" .)