A way of drawing liberal applause (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
free hand
'a way' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'drawing liberal applause' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'liberal' could be 'free' (I've seen this before) and 'free' is present in the answer.
'applause' could be 'hand' (hand is a kind of applause) and 'hand' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for free hand that I've seen before include "Power to organise as one chooses" , "Head fern (anag.)" , "Style of drawing - carte blanche (8;4,4)" , "Authority" , "Done without mechanical aid or device" .)