It may be bronze medal time for daughter (5)
I believe the answer is:
metal
'it may be bronze medal time for daughter' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'it' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'it' could be 't' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'meal' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for metal that I've seen before include "Lead, say" , "barium?" , "Maybe lead" , "Tungsten, for example" , "Lead or iron, perhaps" .)