During the day, the Spanish have an inactive period (5)
I believe the answer is:
delay
'an inactive period' is the definition.
'delay' can be an answer for 'period' (delay is a kind of period). I am not sure about the 'an inactive' bit.
'during the day the spanish' is the wordplay.
'during' indicates putting letters inside.
'the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'day' going around 'el' is 'DELAY'.
'have' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for delay that I've seen before include "Hold-up, time lag" , "Hold back" , "Postponement" , "Put off; pause" , "Stoppage" .)