Indistinct sound was cut short after request for silence around clubs (5)
I believe the answer is:
schwa
'indistinct sound' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'was cut short after request for silence around clubs' is the wordplay.
'cut short' means to remove the last letter.
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'request for silence' becomes 'sh'.
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'clubs' becomes 'c' (abbreviation used in card games such as bridge).
'was' with its last letter removed is 'wa'.
'sh' going around 'c' is 'sch'.
'wa' put after 'sch' is 'SCHWA'.
(Other definitions for schwa that I've seen before include "Unstressed vowel (phonetics)" , "Uh' sound" , "sound unstressed" , "Indistinct sound" , "Stress-free sound" .)