obtrude

[Mince]

My dad, the king of crossword puzzles, has never heard of the word 'obtrude'. That just astounded me.

[Roger Kettle]

There was a very clever clue in the Sunday Times today involving the use of "A street magician" as an anagram for "Race against time".

[Mince]

Do you feed the anagrams into the internet? On the off-chance I fed your name into the internet and came up with Tree Trek Log. I assume this is some kind of hippy Star Trek.

[Roger Kettle]

No, I don't feed crossword anagrams into the internet---the satisfaction comes from solving them yourself. Another terrific clue from the Sunday Times today was "Unremarkable song Tom Petty covers." The answer is "Fair to middling." Neat stuff.

[Mince]

Here's my cryptic clue for you, Roger: Time nibbled a corny latch (5, 6)

[Mince]

Hah! It's too cryptic for everyone! These Sunday Times crosswords are clearly just too easy.

[Roger Kettle]

In my defence, I have to say that, in compiling terms, it's a lousy clue. The sentence is contrived and makes no sense. Is "nibbled" being used to suggest an anagram of "a corny latch"?
That's my excuse, anyway. I gave it ten minutes on the bus today then surrendered.

[Mince]

Is "nibbled" being used to suggest an anagram of "a corny latch"?

Ooh, that's clever, probably cleverer than anything I could come up with.

Okay, "Time" is a clue.

"Nibbled" (and the tense is important) is a synonym and forms the first part of the answer.

"a corny" forms the second part of the answer, but think bigger.

"latch" is a synonym and forms the third part of the answer.

And then the answer has to be said out loud to get the real answer.

[Roger Kettle]

How does one think bigger than "a corny"?
Feel free to announce the answer!

[Mince]

Nibbled = ate
A corny = oak
Latch = lock

[Diamond Lil]

As a lover of cryptic crosswords for more years than I care to say, that has to be one of the worst clues.... ever. 

[Mince]

But you have to admit it makes sense when you get it. I should have posted the answer at eight o'clock.

[Roger Kettle]

Hmm. I'm not sure that you've quite grasped the concept of crossword compiling. The clue should lead you to the exact words of the answer, not just words that sound the same. If you're going to use "ate" for "eight", you have to let the solver know it's an aural synonym. A common (and clichéd) way compilers do this is by adding "on the radio". Your clue would then become the extremely clumsy "nibbled on the radio"---in other words, "ate" sounds like "eight" when you're listening to the radio. Synonyms also have to be precise. Even cryptically, "a corny" is a bit of a stretch to "oak" and I've never heard anyone say "Look at that beautiful a corny tree". Of course, I see the acorn connection but it simply doesn't work as the synonym you intended. I'll let you off with "latch" for "lock" although, technically, they are not the same. A latched door is not a locked door. It can be opened from the outside by simply pressing down on a small lever.
Finally, you indicated that the answer to your clue had two words (5,6). "Eight O' Clock" should have been represented by (5,1,5).
Apart from that, it was brilliant!
Seriously, your clue was very clever but it was WAY outside the bounds of crossword compiling.

[Mince]

Yes, my brain gets carried away sometimes. It's similar to my "Roy Great Britain the Fourth" being the rainbow.

So would can't be (3,1)? I believe o'clock is a similar contraction.

[Roger Kettle]

Well, crossword compilers stick to certain unwritten "regulations" and "o" is always regarded as a single word. I'm sure you'll agree that it's difficult to accept "oclock" as a six-letter word.
I have no idea what your rainbow clue means!