Say the time is no better than usual (7)
I believe the answer is:
average
'usual' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'say the time' is the wordplay.
'say' becomes 'aver' (aver means to state or claim something).
'the time' becomes 'age' (an age is a period of time).
'aver'+'age'='AVERAGE'
'is no better than' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for average that I've seen before include "It may be mean" , "Moderate" , "Medial" , "Usual - mediocre - mean" , "Mean - medium" .)