That woman spread malt out using heat (7)
I believe the answer is:
thermal
'heat' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both types of natural phenomena as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'that woman spread malt out' is the wordplay.
'that woman' becomes 'her' (her refers to a woman).
'spread' indicates anagramming the letters.
'out' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'malt' with letters rearranged gives 'tmal'.
'her' placed within 'tmal' is 'THERMAL'.
'using' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for thermal that I've seen before include "Warm like winter woollies" , "type of baths" , "Caloric" , "Up-current of air" , "A lot of hot air" .)