Somewhat cracks tile in dwelling place (7)
I believe the answer is:
habitat
'dwelling place' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'somewhat cracks tile' is the wordplay.
'somewhat' becomes 'a bit' (a bit).
'cracks' indicates putting letters inside (crack their way in).
'tile' becomes 'hat' (tile is an old-fashioned term for a hat).
'abit' placed within 'hat' is 'HABITAT'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for habitat that I've seen before include "Shop founded by Terence Conran" , "Surrender" , "Territory" , "Animal's environment" , "One's normal environment" .)