Describing days long gone when even boiled beans sufficed (5)
I believe the answer is:
olden
'sufficed' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs can sometimes define each other.
'describing days long gone when even boiled beans' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'days' could be 'd' (abbreviation for days) and 'd' is present in the answer.
'long' could be 'l' and 'l' is found in the answer.
'when' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'on' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for olden that I've seen before include "Led on (anag)" , "Out of date" , "Bygone" , "(Of days) in the long distant past!" , "of ancient history?" .)