Hear about a very awkward set for mockery (8)
I believe the answer is:
travesty
'mockery' is the definition.
('travesty' can be a synonym of 'mockery')
'hear about a very awkward set' is the wordplay.
'hear' becomes 'try' ('try' can be a synonym of 'hear').
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'very awkward set' becomes 'vest' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a'+'vest'='avest'
'try' going around 'avest' is 'TRAVESTY'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for travesty that I've seen before include "Farcical version" , "Vary test (anag.)" , "Charade" , "Grotesque distortion" , "Total misrepresentation" .)