Official caught in tricky situation on the runway? (9)
I believe the answer is:
preflight
'the runway?' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'official caught in tricky situation' is the wordplay.
'official' becomes 'ref' (match official in football, say).
'caught in' indicates putting letters inside.
'tricky situation' becomes 'plight' (I have seen 'Unfortunate situation' mean 'plight' so perhaps 'situation' could also mean 'plight'. I am not sure about the 'tricky' bit.).
'ref' put into 'plight' is 'PREFLIGHT'.
'on' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for preflight that I've seen before include "before anything takes off" , "before setting off on journey" , "Before take-off" .)