Quickly taking a quiet break when there’s nothing on (6)
I believe the answer is:
presto
'quickly' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a quiet break when there's nothing on' is the wordplay.
'a quiet' becomes 'p' (music symbol for 'piano').
'break when' becomes 'rest' (resting is a kind of breaking. I am not sure about the 'when' bit.**).
'there's nothing' becomes 'o' (I've seen this in other clues).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'p'+'rest'+'o'='PRESTO'
'taking' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for presto that I've seen before include "Very fast (mus.)" , "quickly in bars" , "Hey ..., said the magician" , "Moving quickly" , "29 [ADAGIO]? On the contrary" .)