In post-revolution China, stumped by boastful talk done in desperation (4-4)
I believe the answer is:
last-gasp
'done in desperation' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'in post-revolution china stumped by boastful talk' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'post revolution china' becomes 'lap' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'stumped' becomes 'st' (cricket abbreviation).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'boastful talk' becomes 'gas' (I've seen this in another clue).
'st'+'gas'='stgas'
'lap' placed around 'stgas' is 'LAST-GASP'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for last-gasp that I've seen before include "Done in desperation (or at the point of death?)" , "Done in desperation at the final moment" , "Finalk expiration, moment of death" , "Remnant of energy or final exhalation" , "Done at the latest possible moment" .)