Take away in time carried northward (7)
I believe the answer is:
detract
'take away' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'time carried northward' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'carried' becomes 'carted' (carting is a kind of carrying).
'northward' is a reversal indicator (in down clue going up).
't'+'carted'='tcarted'
'tcarted' backwards is 'DETRACT'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for detract that I've seen before include "Diminish the worth (of)" , "Take away, character perhaps" , "Take away a part of, lower in value" , "Take away from, diminish" , "Slight" .)