American stops a tense period only with difficulty (2,1,7)
I believe the answer is:
at a stretch
'with difficulty' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american stops a tense period only' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'american' could be 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names) and 'a' is found in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
'tense' could be 'stretch' (stretching is a kind of tensing) and 'stretch' is found within the answer.
A single letter 't' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for at a stretch that I've seen before include "in one continuous period" , "With much effort" , "With difficulty; without interruption" , "Running, possibly" .)