King's dark time with criminal getting honour (10)
I believe the answer is:
knighthood
'honour' is the definition.
(I know that knighthood is a type of honour)
'king's dark time with criminal' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'K' (chess abbreviation).
'dark time' becomes 'night' (I've seen this in another clue).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'criminal' becomes 'hood' (hood is a kind of criminal).
'k'+'night'+'hood'='KNIGHTHOOD'
'getting' is the link.
(Other definitions for knighthood that I've seen before include "High honour" , "Order of chivalry" , "bishop's neighbour" , "Title" .)