Welding of extremely shiny new lead, on paper (9)
I believe the answer is:
synthesis
'welding of' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'extremely shiny new lead on paper' is the wordplay.
'extremely' suggests removing the centre (only the extremes of the word are used).
'lead' says to take the initial letters.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'paper' becomes 'thesis' (I've seen this before).
'shiny' with its centre taken out is 'sy'.
The first letter of 'new' is 'n'.
'sy'+'n'+'thesis'='SYNTHESIS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for synthesis that I've seen before include "Combination of components to form a whole" , "Process of bringing together to form a whole" , "getting together tricky" , "The making of compounds from simpler ones" , "In shy sets (anag.)" .)