Something sweet and hot eaten by clown in the evening (9)
I believe the answer is:
chocolate
'something sweet' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'hot eaten by clown in the evening' is the wordplay.
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation, eg on taps).
'eaten by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get eaten).
'clown' becomes 'coco' (Nicolai Poliakoff aka Coco the Clown).
'in the evening' becomes 'late'.
'h' inserted into 'coco' is 'choco'.
'choco'+'late'='CHOCOLATE'
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chocolate that I've seen before include "Sweetmeat made from cocoa" , "Food bars" , "The tasty substance could be a cool cheat 99)" , "Drink (if hot)" , "Dark, reddish brown - drink - food" .)