Sorted out tensions surrounding a matter of excited public interest (9)
I believe the answer is:
sensation
'excited public interest' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to thinking as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'sorted out tensions surrounding a matter' is the wordplay.
'sorted out' indicates an anagram.
'surrounding' indicates putting letters inside.
'a matter' becomes 'A' (A is an example).
'tensions' with letters rearranged gives 'senstion'.
'senstion' placed around 'a' is 'SENSATION'.
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sensation that I've seen before include "Scandal" , "Physical feeling or perception" , "Feeling produced by stimulation, or dramatic news (9)" , "Scandalous news item" , "Awareness of a stimulus, such as heat or pain" .)