Moderate hit set in outskirts of Albuquerque (5)
I believe the answer is:
abate
'moderate' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hit set in outskirts of albuquerque' is the wordplay.
'hit' becomes 'bat' (batting is a kind of hitting).
'set in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'outskirts of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only letters on the outskirts).
'albuquerque' with its middle removed is 'ae'.
'bat' placed into 'ae' is 'ABATE'.
(Other definitions for abate that I've seen before include "Wane" , "Lessen - cease" , "Subside like storm" , "Lessen in intensity" , "Go down like storm" .)