Coppers take in a half-time game of cards (8)
I believe the answer is:
patience
'game of cards' is the definition.
'patience' can be an answer for 'game' (patience is a kind of game). I am unsure of the 'of cards' bit.
'coppers take in a half-time' is the wordplay.
'coppers' becomes 'pence' (I've seen this before).
'take in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'half' means to take half the letters.
'time' with half the letters taken is 'ti'.
'a'+'ti'='ati'
'pence' going around 'ati' is 'PATIENCE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for patience that I've seen before include "capacity for endurance" , "Game; forbearance" , "Card game - virtue" , "Work by G&S" , "Gilbertian dairymaid" .)