European rocket chicks regularly brought up in chitchat (8)
I believe the answer is:
schmooze
'chitchat' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'european rocket chicks regularly brought up' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'rocket' becomes 'zoom' (I've seen this in another clue).
'regularly' means one should take alternating letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'brought up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in a down clue, letters go up).
The alternating letters of 'chicks' are 'hcs'.
'e'+'zoom'+'hcs'='ezoomhcs'
'ezoomhcs' reversed gives 'SCHMOOZE'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for schmooze that I've seen before include "Talk amicably, perhaps seeking a favour" , "Gossip in a friendly way" , "Chat in friendly manner" , "Chat at a gathering" , "Talk intimately in order to manipulate" .)