Novel heroine and husband back call for clubbing (9)
I believe the answer is:
hammering
'clubbing' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being present participle verbs.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'novel heroine and husband back call' is the wordplay.
'novel heroine' becomes 'emma' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'novel' bit.).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'husband' becomes 'h' (abbreviation).
'back' is a reversal indicator.
'call' becomes 'ring' (telephone call).
'emma'+'h'='emmah'
'emmah' reversed gives 'hamme'.
'hamme'+'ring'='HAMMERING'
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hammering that I've seen before include "Mjolnir's work" , "Beating" , "noisy work" , "Pounding, nails say" , "Pounding with a hand tool" .)