Target of jewellery raid left holding broken stem (8)
I believe the answer is:
gemstone
'target of jewellery raid' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'left holding broken stem' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'gone' (go can mean to leave).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'broken' indicates anagramming the letters.
'stem' with letters rearranged gives 'emst'.
'gone' enclosing 'emst' is 'GEMSTONE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gemstone that I've seen before include "something of great value" , "Something precious" , "Physical power" , "Jewel" , "Sparkler" .)