Are we prepared to sit in for, so to speak? (2,2,4)
I believe the answer is:
as it were
'so to speak?' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'are we prepared to sit in' is the wordplay.
'prepared' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'are'+'we'='arewe'
'arewe' anagrammed gives 'awere'.
'awere' placed around 'sit' is 'AS IT WERE'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for as it were that I've seen before include "In sort of" , "you may say" , "In a manner of speaking" , "Seemingly" , "you might say" .)