Declining privilege afforded exclusive patient, maybe, after day (8)
I believe the answer is:
downward
'declining' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'exclusive patient maybe after day' is the wordplay.
'exclusive' becomes 'own' (one's own, excluding others).
'patient maybe' becomes 'ward' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'day' becomes 'd' (abbreviation for day).
'own'+'ward'='ownward'
'ownward' after 'd' is 'DOWNWARD'.
'privilege afforded' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for downward that I've seen before include "for the worse?" , "Declining" , "Is off-peak travel heading" , "To a lower place" , "From higher to lower in direction" .)