Small and large diamonds fade (5)
I believe the answer is:
slice
'fade' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'small and large diamonds' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'large' becomes 'L' (eg in clothes sizes).
'diamonds' becomes 'ice' (slang term for diamonds).
's'+'l'+'ice'='SLICE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for slice that I've seen before include "Spin" , "poor golf shot" , "Portion (of cake)" , "Serving cut from a larger portion" , "Thin flat piece" .)