I am in late after clinic closes; it’s the weather (7)
I believe the answer is:
climate
'the weather' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'i am in late after clinic closes' is the wordplay.
'i am' becomes 'I'm'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'clinic closes' becomes 'c' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'im' put into 'late' is 'limate'.
'limate' put after 'c' is 'CLIMATE'.
'it's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for climate that I've seen before include "Prevailing trend" , "Atmospheric conditions" , "Long-term prevalent weather conditions" , "Atmosphere" , "Lime cat (anag.)" .)