Crossword Genius

After time, I have chess kit laid out for friendly (5,2,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thick as thieves

'friendly' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'after time i have chess kit laid out' is the wordplay.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'laid out' indicates an anagram.
'i'+'have'+'chess'+'kit'='ihavechesskit'
'ihavechesskit' anagrammed gives 'hickasthieves'.
't'+'hickasthieves' is 'THICK AS THIEVES'.

'for' is the link.

(Another definition for thick as thieves that I've seen is " Friendly".)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
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