Catch the breath as you talk freely, albeit quietly (4)
I believe the answer is:
gasp
'catch the breath' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'you talk freely albeit quietly' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'talk' could be 'gas' (gas can mean to chat) and 'gas' is found in the answer.
'quietly' could be 'p' (p for piano and quiet) and 'p' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gasp that I've seen before include "Utter breathlessly" , "Catch one's breath in astonishment" , "Show amazement" , "Say "ah"" , "Convulsive breath" .)