Priority shown by the vain resident? (5,2,5)
I believe the answer is:
pride of place
'vain resident?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'priority shown by' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'by' could be 'of' and 'of' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pride of place that I've seen before include "Position of special prominence" , "Most honourable position" , "Patriotism" , "Most important position" , "The best spot" .)