Make enquiries about cheerful and favoured form of entertainment (8)
I believe the answer is:
puppetry
'form of entertainment' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'make enquiries about cheerful and favoured' is the wordplay.
'make enquiries' becomes 'pry' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'cheerful' becomes 'up' (up can mean cheerful or upbeat).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'favoured' becomes 'pet' (as in a pet project).
'up'+'pet'='uppet'
'pry' going around 'uppet' is 'PUPPETRY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for puppetry that I've seen before include "Unconvincing presentation" , "Punch and Judy act" , "The art of manipulating dolls" , "that may have strings attached" , "Art using marionettes" .)