Shortened dress leading to attempt to create instinctive amorous interaction (9)
I believe the answer is:
chemistry
'instinctive amorous interaction' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'shortened dress leading to attempt to' is the wordplay.
'shortened dress leading' becomes 'chemis' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to attempt to' becomes 'try' (I've seen this in other clues).
'chemis'+'try'='CHEMISTRY'
'create' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chemistry that I've seen before include "Scientific study of substances - by pharmacist?" , "Branch of science" , "Science - mutual attraction" , "Science; emotional attraction between a couple" , "scientific discipline" .)