Perceive what Americans do down Lovers Lane (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
make out
'perceive' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'americans do down lovers lane' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'do' could be 'make' (synonyms) and 'make' is found within the answer.
'down' could be 'out' (similar in meaning) and 'out' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'what' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for make out that I've seen before include "Manage to see" , "Discern" , "Descry - succeed" , "understand" , "Distinguish; pretend" .)