Youth, perhaps, spy ring replaced with adult (4)
I believe the answer is:
male
'adult' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'youth perhaps spy ring replaced' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'spy' could be 'm' ('M' is James Bond's boss) and 'm' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ale' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for male that I've seen before include "Lame sort of fellow" , "Maldives capital; masculine" , "man?" , "One cannot have babies" , "A gender" .)