Commanding officer has little time to view Italian lake (4)
I believe the answer is:
como
'italian lake' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'commanding officer has little time' is the wordplay.
'commanding officer' becomes 'co'.
'has' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'little time' becomes 'mo' (short period of time).
'co'+'mo'='COMO'
'to view' acts as a 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 como that I've seen before include "Not Italy's biggest lake" , "North Italian lake" , "See 12" , "lake resort" , "Lake in Lombardy" .)