At one minute to midnight, drunken minister grabs kiss behind wife's back (2,8)
I believe the answer is:
in extremis
'at one minute to midnight' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'drunken minister grabs kiss behind wife's back' is the wordplay.
'drunken' indicates anagramming the letters.
'grabs' is an insertion indicator.
'kiss' becomes 'x' (X can represent a kiss).
'behind' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'back' indicates one should take the final letters.
The last letter of 'wife' is 'e'.
'minister' with letters rearranged gives 'intremis'.
'x' put after 'e' is 'ex'.
'intremis' enclosing 'ex' is 'IN EXTREMIS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for in extremis that I've seen before include "At the point of death" , "feeling desperation" , "at a desperate point" , "dying" , "Facing death" .)