What's characteristic about conflicting directions in journey? (7)
I believe the answer is:
transit
'journey?' is the definition.
(I know that transit is a type of journey)
'what's characteristic about conflicting directions in' is the wordplay.
'what's characteristic' becomes 'trait' (a trait is a quality or characteristic).
'about' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'conflicting directions' becomes 'SN' (opposite compass points).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sn' written backwards gives 'ns'.
'trait' placed around 'ns' is 'TRANSIT'.
(Other definitions for transit that I've seen before include "Moving" , "In - - (en route)" , "Movement (of goods)" , "The process of going or conveying" , "Pass across" .)