Latest thing in ties (5)
I believe the answer is:
final
'latest' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'thing in ties' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'in' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'fal' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for final that I've seen before include "Last match in a competition" , "Like one's journey to cemetery" , "Last in a series of games or contests" , "Last, ultimate" , "Conclusive" .)