Backing magistrate? About time to show conditions? (5)
I believe the answer is:
terms
'conditions?' is the definition.
(I know this)
'backing magistrate? about time to show' is the wordplay.
'backing' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'magistrate?' becomes 'sm' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'about' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'to show' becomes 'ER' (US medical drama).
'sm' in reverse letter order is 'ms'.
't'+'er'='ter'
'ms' put after 'ter' is 'TERMS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for terms that I've seen before include "Conditions, for school periods?" , "Conditions (contract)" , "Times" , "Parts of the academic year" , "Academic periods" .)