Settle up to the present time (5)
I believe the answer is:
still
'settle' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'up to the present time' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sill' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for still that I've seen before include "sort of life" , "Retort; nevertheless" , "Motionless, inactive" , "not like champagne" , "Static photograph" .)