The French, below average in every direction (8)
I believe the answer is:
parallel
'every direction' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both locations as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'the french below average' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'allel' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'below' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go below others).
'average' becomes 'par' (average score in golf).
'allel' put after 'par' is 'PARALLEL'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for parallel that I've seen before include "When lines are equidistant and never intersect" , "Imaginary line around the Earth" , "Circle of constant latitude" , "Similarity, comparison" , "Side by side" .)