Caught in time — setback in an area (4)
I believe the answer is:
acre
'an area' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'caught in time setback' is the wordplay.
'caught' becomes 'c' (cricket abbreviation).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'time' becomes 'era' (I've seen this before**).
'setback' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'c' placed inside 'era' is 'erca'.
'erca' back-to-front is 'ACRE'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for acre that I've seen before include "Imperial land measurement" , "0.405 of a hectare" , "Measure of land area" , "Ancient city in Israel" , "Unit of land area" .)