Potentially save time in attempt, resulting in farce (8)
I believe the answer is:
travesty
'farce' is the definition.
('travesty' can be a synonym of 'farce')
'potentially save time in attempt' is the wordplay.
'potentially' is an anagram indicator (letters have the potential to spell a new word).
'time' becomes 't'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'attempt' becomes 'try' (I've seen this before).
'save'+'t'='savet'
'savet' anagrammed gives 'avest'.
'avest' going inside 'try' is 'TRAVESTY'.
'resulting in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for travesty that I've seen before include "Sham" , "Absurd misrepresentation" , "False or distorted representation of something" , "Total misrepresentation" , "Grotesque parody" .)