Canny ruler around at this time (7)
I believe the answer is:
knowing
'canny' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'ruler around at this time' is the wordplay.
'ruler' becomes 'king' (king is a kind of ruler).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'at this time' becomes 'now' (at the present time).
'king' placed around 'now' is 'KNOWING'.
(Other definitions for knowing that I've seen before include "Arch" , "Understanding" , "Wise" , "Cunning" , "Fly" .)