Summer clothing, blue: a brief distraction (5,5)
I believe the answer is:
short story
'a brief distraction' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'summer clothing blue' is the wordplay.
'summer clothing' becomes 'shorts' (shorts is a kind of clothing. I am not sure about the 'summer' bit.).
'blue' becomes 'tory' (I've seen this in other clues).
'shorts'+'tory'='SHORT STORY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for short story that I've seen before include "That's hardly novel" , "Novella" , "not much material to take in" , "little romance, say?" , "tale" .)