American has answer during short encore (5)
I believe the answer is:
again
'encore' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american has answer during short' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'has' says to put letters next to each other.
'answer' becomes 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A).
'during' indicates putting letters inside.
'short' becomes 'gin' (small alcoholic drink).
'a' put inside 'gin' is 'gain'.
'a'+'gain'='AGAIN'
(Other definitions for again that I've seen before include "Repeatedly" , "Next time" , "repeat order" , "Ocne more" , "return" .)