Metal treatment involving time, just a bit (8)
I believe the answer is:
tincture
'a bit' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'metal treatment involving time' is the wordplay.
'metal' becomes 'tin' (tin is a kind of metal).
'treatment' becomes 'cure' (medical treatment).
'involving' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'cure' enclosing 't' is 'cture'.
'tin'+'cture'='TINCTURE'
'just' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tincture that I've seen before include "Slight tinge or trace of some element" , "Substance that colours metals" , "Medicine in an alcohol solution" , "Medicinal extract in a solution of alcohol" , "(In medicine) an alcoholic solution of a drug" .)