Popular venue, perhaps in the desert (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
hot spot
'the desert' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'popular venue perhaps' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'hot' (hot can mean popular or trendy).
'venue perhaps' becomes 'spot' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'hot'+'spot'='HOT SPOT'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hot spot that I've seen before include "Dangerous place" , "Potential flashpoint" , "volatile situation" , "Place of high activity or danger" , "Site of unpredictable volcanic activity" .)