Attempt to hold a platter (4)
I believe the answer is:
tray
'platter' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'attempt to hold a' is the wordplay.
'attempt' becomes 'try' (I've seen this before).
'to hold' is an insertion indicator.
'try' going around 'a' is 'TRAY'.
(Other definitions for tray that I've seen before include "Portable carrier" , "Shallow receptable for carrying something" , "Flat utensil for carrying meal" , "Correspondence container" , "food container" .)