Cooking back in Sunderland instead of Gateshead is boring (8)
I believe the answer is:
drilling
'boring' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'cooking back in sunderland instead of gateshead' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'in' is found in the answer.
'gateshead' could be 'g' (head letter of 'gates') and 'g' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'drill' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for drilling that I've seen before include "Boring; training" , "Boring; sowing seeds" .)