Gall jailbird to be linked to first offender in any coverage (8)
I believe the answer is:
acrimony
'gall jailbird' is the definition.
'acrimony' can be an answer for 'gall' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'jailbird' bit.
'linked to first offender in any coverage' is the wordplay.
'linked to' becomes 'crim' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'first offender' becomes 'o' (cst letter of 'offender').
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'coverage' indicates putting letters inside.
'o' inserted inside 'any' is 'aony'.
'crim' placed within 'aony' is 'ACRIMONY'.
'to be' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acrimony that I've seen before include "Rancour, bad blood" , "Bitterness of manner or words" , "Acronym I coined in hostility" , "Acronym I construct with bitter words" , "Asperity" .)