### Clue: Shed tears after operatic heroine's imitation (7)
### Answer: MIMICRY 
 ### Explanation: Definition: imitation
  CRY(shed tears) *placed after*(after) MIMI(heroine in the opera La Boheme, the Puccini version overshadowing Leoncavallo's)
Defn:  Life's imitation of other life or non-life for various purposes eg. defence, and entrapment
Cuckoos' eggs mimicry and their targets