Giving the green light to stick listener somewhere in the middle (8)
I believe the answer is:
clearing
'the middle' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both locations as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'giving the green light to stick listener somewhere' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'listener' could be 'ear' (body part which hears or listens) and 'ear' is found in the answer.
'stick' could be 'cling' (synonyms) and 'cling' is located in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for clearing that I've seen before include "becoming brighter" , "Treeless tract in a wooded area" , "part of wood" , "Ridding of obstructions" , "part of forest" .)