Away from home a long time when torches may be necessary? (7)

I believe the answer is:

outages

'when torches may be necessary?' is the definition.
(as in power outages)

'away from home a long time' is the wordplay.
'away from home' becomes 'out' (synonyms).
'a long time' becomes 'ages' (ages can mean a very long time).
'out'+'ages'='OUTAGES'

(Another definition for outages that I've seen is " power failures".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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