Coward’s work, leaving wet patch in cheese department? (5,9)
I believe the answer is:
brief encounter
'department?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'coward's work leaving wet patch in cheese' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'work' could be 'count' (count is a kind of work) and 'count' is present in the answer.
'cheese' could be 'brie' (Brie is an example) and 'brie' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for brief encounter that I've seen before include "Picture" , "Film set largely at a railway station" .)