'Time Out' has gossip articles by Spooner (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
gap year
'has gossip articles by spooner' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'time' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'time' could be 'year' (year is a unit of time) and 'year' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'gap' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'out' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gap year that I've seen before include "Academic break" , "Chance to gain experience" , "When student might travel" , "Student's chance to travel" , "continuum of education now interrupted" .)