Scoffed about a new tray, new if nothing else (2,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
at any rate
'if nothing else' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'scoffed about a new tray new' is the wordplay.
'scoffed' becomes 'ate' ('to scoff' is to eat).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a new' becomes 'an' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'new' is an anagram indicator.
'tray' anagrammed gives 'yrat'.
'an'+'yrat'='anyrat'
'ate' enclosing 'anyrat' is 'AT ANY RATE'.
(Other definitions for at any rate that I've seen before include "Price thus unspecified" , "Whatever may have happened" , "if nothing else" , "Whatever happens" , "regardless of the speed" .)