Hearty pie and mash prepared — time to tuck in (8)
I believe the answer is:
shipmate
'hearty pie and mash prepared time to tuck in' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'pie and mash prepared time to tuck in' is the wordplay.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'prepared' indicates anagramming the letters.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'to tuck in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pie' after 'mash' is 'mashpie'.
'mashpie' is an anagram of 'shipmae'.
'shipmae' going around 't' is 'SHIPMATE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shipmate that I've seen before include "Fellow crewman" , "Sailor on board, a real pal" , "Fellow sailor" , "Fellow crew member" , "Friend on board" .)