Mess about before social event or cooperate? (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
play ball
'cooperate?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'mess about before social event' is the wordplay.
'mess about' becomes 'play'.
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'social event' becomes 'ball' (I've seen this in other clues).
'play'+'ball'='PLAY BALL'
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for play ball that I've seen before include "Do what is needed" , "meet a delivery?" , "Be cooperative" , "go along" , "Most boys love to" .)