A time to hide dope plant? (5)
I believe the answer is:
agent
'plant?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'a time to hide dope' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'to hide' indicates putting letters inside.
'dope' becomes 'gen' (I've seen this in other clues).
'a'+'t'='at'
'at' enclosing 'gen' is 'AGENT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for agent that I've seen before include "Spy; service provider" , "Spy - broker" , "Sales rep" , "Dealer" , "One may be working" .)