A-Z map briefly reviewed before stay in Derby? (8)
I believe the answer is:
alphabet
'a-z' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'before stay in derby?' is the wordplay.
'before' becomes 'alp' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'stay' becomes 'be' (stay can mean to continue to be a certain way).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'derby?' becomes 'hat' (derby is a kind of hat).
'be' placed inside 'hat' is 'habet'.
'alp'+'habet'='ALPHABET'
'map briefly reviewed' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alphabet that I've seen before include "Complete set of letters" , "Depend (on)" , "Group of characters" , "First elements (of language)" , "A-Z" .)