A cunning trick to speak for a period (6)
I believe the answer is:
awhile
'a cunning trick to speak for a period' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'a cunning trick to speak for a' is the wordplay.
'a cunning trick' becomes 'wile' (I've seen this in another clue).
'to speak' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'for' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'wile' sounds like 'while'.
'while' put after 'a' is 'AWHILE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for awhile that I've seen before include "For a short time" , "a brief period" , "briefly" .)