Fare returning at the earliest opportunity with time to board (5)
I believe the answer is:
pasta
'the earliest opportunity with time to board' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'fare returning at' is the wordplay.
'fare' becomes 'pas' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'returning' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'at' back-to-front is 'ta'.
'pas'+'ta'='PASTA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pasta that I've seen before include "Spaghetti, perhaps" , "Linguine, e.g." , "Flour and water foodstuff" , "tagliatelle perhaps" , "Eg, tagliatelle" .)