Deliberation even if on time (7)
I believe the answer is:
thought
'deliberation' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'even if on time' is the wordplay.
'even if' becomes 'though' (I've seen this before).
'on' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'though'+'t'='THOUGHT'
(Other definitions for thought that I've seen before include "just a trifle" , "Idea coming to mind" , "Considered, believed" , "Orwell's sort of police" , "Mental idea" .)