Hostel chores involved producing frame for drying (7,5)
I believe the answer is:
clothes horse
'frame for drying' is the definition.
(frame for drying clothes)
'hostel chores involved' is the wordplay.
'involved' is an anagram indicator (involved can mean confusing or complex).
'hostel'+'chores'='hostelchores'
'hostelchores' is an anagram of 'CLOTHES-HORSE'.
'producing' is the link.
(Other definitions for clothes horse that I've seen before include "Model" , "dandy, perhaps" , "Airer for garments" , "Dandy - frame to hang laundry on" , "framework for home economics" .)