It's a fault taking the path of less resistance (5,7)
I believe the answer is:
short circuit
'it's a fault' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Electrical fault ' mean 'short circuit' so perhaps 'fault' could also mean 'short circuit')
'the path of less resistance' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
'path' could be 'circuit' (circuit is a kind of path) and 'circuit' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
'resistance' could be 'r' (abbreviation in physics and electronics) and 'r' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sh' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'taking' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for short circuit that I've seen before include "One may blow a fuse" , "Suffer an electrical fault" , "Current malfunction" , "Electrical problem" , "Cut corners" .)