Detain assembly after limit was commanded (9)
I believe the answer is:
captained
'commanded' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with social activities as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'detain assembly after limit' is the wordplay.
'assembly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'limit' becomes 'cap' (capping is a kind of limiting).
'detain' anagrammed gives 'tained'.
'tained' after 'cap' is 'CAPTAINED'.
'was' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for captained that I've seen before include "Led" , "took charge of" .)