It is recalled in essays and a paper (3,5)
I believe the answer is:
the times
'a paper' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'it is recalled in essays' is the wordplay.
'is recalled' says the letters should be written backwards.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'essays' becomes 'themes' (theme is a kind of essay).
'it' in reverse letter order is 'ti'.
'ti' inserted within 'themes' is 'THE TIMES'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for the times that I've seen before include "British daily newspaper" , "paper" .)