Were fish, say, in a spin? (8)
I believe the answer is:
whirling
'say in a spin?' is the definition.
'whirling' can be an answer for 'spin?' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'say in a' bit.
'were fish' is the wordplay.
'were' becomes 'whir' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'fish' becomes 'ling' (ling is a kind of fish).
'whir'+'ling'='WHIRLING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for whirling that I've seen before include "Rotating" , "Revolving rapidly" , "Spinning Sufi who has taken vows of poverty" , "Gyrating, reeling" .)