Con played centre, in the meantime (6)
I believe the answer is:
inmate
'con' is the definition.
(I know that con can be written as inmate)
'played centre in the meantime' is the wordplay.
'played' indicates anagramming the letters (letters playing around).
'centre in' says to take the centre.
The middle of 'meantime' is 'eantim'.
'eantim' with letters rearranged gives 'INMATE'.
(Other definitions for inmate that I've seen before include "you mightn't want him to escape" , "Person confined to institution" , "One is confined to an institution" , "Inhabitant of prison or hospital" , "Person serving a jail sentence" .)