At home, with friend round before start of early afternoon show (7)
I believe the answer is:
matinee
'afternoon show' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'at home with friend round before' is the wordplay.
'at home with' becomes 'in' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'friend' becomes 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend).
'round' indicates putting letters inside.
'before' becomes 'e' (I've seen this in other clues).
'in' inserted inside 'mate' is 'matine'.
'matine'+'e'='MATINEE'
'start of early' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for matinee that I've seen before include "Afternoon show" , "sort of jacket" , "Play, perhaps" , "theatre performance" , "First jackets" .)