Man in trance for a short interval (5)
I believe the answer is:
comma
'a short interval' is the definition.
(I have seen 'shortest interval' mean 'comma' so perhaps 'interval' could also mean 'comma'; 'short' suggests an abbreviation)
'man in trance' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'm'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'trance' becomes 'coma' (I have seen 'Deep trance' mean 'coma' so perhaps 'trance' could also mean 'coma').
'm' going within 'coma' is 'COMMA'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for comma that I've seen before include "Butterfly with orange and brown wings" , "breathtaking marking?" , "part of list, invariably" , ", (stet)" , "I signal a break" .)