One had on the first Apollo short fire, tragically (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
april fool
'one had' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'apollo short fire tragically' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'tragically' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'fire' with its last letter taken off is 'fir'.
'apollo'+'fir'='apollofir'
'apollofir' anagrammed gives 'APRIL FOOL'.
'on the first' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for april fool that I've seen before include "butt of joke" , "I've been had" , "12 [POISSON DAVRIL]" , "Spring hoax victim" , "gullible person" .)