A male protecting friend in Gestapo? (7)
I believe the answer is:
acronym
'gestapo?' is the definition.
(Gestapo is an example of an acronym)
'a male protecting friend' is the wordplay.
'a male' becomes 'am' (I've seen this in other clues).
'protecting' is an insertion indicator.
'friend' becomes 'crony' (crony is a kind of friend).
'am' enclosing 'crony' is 'ACRONYM'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for acronym that I've seen before include "Mar cony (anag)" , "Perhaps nimby" , "Word made up of initials" , "Ernie, for one" , "Word formed from 1st letters of other words" .)