Now an awful toady (5)
I believe the answer is:
today
'now' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'awful toady' is the wordplay.
'awful' indicates an anagram.
'toady' with letters rearranged gives 'TODAY'.
'an' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for today that I've seen before include "one of our papers, once" , "Yesterday's tomorrow" , "12, 12" , "Modern times" , "The present time or age" .)