Magistrate buttonholes university lecturer with energy drink (5)
I believe the answer is:
julep
'drink' is the definition.
(julep is a kind of drink)
'magistrate buttonholes university lecturer with energy' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'university' could be 'u' and 'u' is present in the answer.
'lecturer' could be 'l' and 'l' is found within the answer.
'energy' could be 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'magistrate' could be 'jp' and 'jp' is found within the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for julep that I've seen before include "See 21 Down" , "Cocktail of bourbon, sugar and mint over crushed ice" , "(Minted) drink made with bourbon, sugar and crushed ice" , "Mint drink in America" , "Sweet drink, often medicated" .)