Is temperature reduced in social gathering for interval? (8)
I believe the answer is:
distance
'interval?' is the definition.
(interval is a kind of distance)
'is temperature reduced in social gathering' is the wordplay.
'reduced' says to take the initial letters (the word is reduced to its first letter).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'social gathering' becomes 'dance' (dance is a kind of social gathering**).
The first letter of 'temperature' is 't'.
'is'+'t'='ist'
'ist' put within 'dance' is 'DISTANCE'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for distance that I've seen before include "Space between things" , "Length of space between one place and another" , "Interval between two points" , "Full extent of fighting" , "A far-off point" .)