Show the den I contrived to trap one animal in (8)
I believe the answer is:
indicate
'show' is the definition.
(I know that show is a more specific form of show)
'den i contrived to trap one animal in' is the wordplay.
'contrived' is an anagram indicator.
'to trap' indicates putting letters inside.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'animal' becomes 'cat' (cats are animals).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'den'+'i'='deni'
'deni' is an anagram of 'inde'.
'inde' enclosing 'i' is 'indie'.
'indie' enclosing 'cat' is 'INDICATE'.
'the' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for indicate that I've seen before include "Point out, make known" , "Point out, suggest" , "Point, show, signal" , "Make a signal" , "Mark" .)