Conservative begins Hard Times (6)
I believe the answer is:
crises
'times' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Times of danger ' mean 'crises' so perhaps 'times' could also mean 'crises')
'conservative begins hard' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'conservative' could be 'c' (UK political abbreviation) and 'c' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rises' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for crises that I've seen before include "lot of emergencies" , "Times of great danger" , "Catastrophes" , "Moments of panic" , "moments of disaster" .)