Graduate can open schedule with early morning service (6)
I believe the answer is:
matins
'morning service' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'graduate can open schedule with early' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'graduate' could be 'ma' (abbreviation for Master of Arts) and 'ma' is found within the answer.
'can' could be 'tin' (both are metal containers) and 'tin' is located in the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for matins that I've seen before include "Church service" , "Anglican morning service" , "Isn't ma given to morning prayers?" , "Morning prayers or bird-songs" , "C of E's daily morning service" .)