Where to do battle for a warm-hearted woman (5)
I believe the answer is:
arena
'where to do battle' is the definition.
The answer is a location as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'a warm-hearted woman' is the wordplay.
'a warm' becomes 'toast' (toast can mean to heat up).
'hearted' indicates the central letters.
'woman' becomes 'rena' ().
The middle of 'toast' is 'a'.
'a'+'rena'='ARENA'
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for arena that I've seen before include "Area of endeavour" , "Where one may find sportsmen" , "Area of combat" , "Sporting enclosure" , "Ring; stage" .)