The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word PAVAROTTI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
P
A
V
A
R
O
T
T
I
More clues leading to the result PAVAROTTI
- Patriot originally inspiring a very old singer
- A VIP or tenor primarily at work?
- Father against shortened Nessun Dorma, perhaps too much butting in for singer
- Patriot arranged to host a very big singer
- Air ace unsettled patriot holding Bible
- TV — top aria may be rendered by this tenor
- Singer‘s secretary changed, dropping a third but eating too much
- Assistant’s pointless changes to accommodate extravagant tenor
- Parotta I rolled over top of vessel for singer
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "tenor" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tenor = pavarotti.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.