Take things easy at first — in time place very busy (6)
I believe the answer is:
thieve
'take things' is the definition.
(to thieve is to steal things)
'easy at first in time place very busy' is the wordplay.
'at first' says to take the initial letters.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'place very busy' becomes 'hive' (hive can mean a busy area).
The initial letter of 'easy' is 'e'.
't'+'hive'='thive'
'e' put inside 'thive' is 'THIEVE'.
(Other definitions for thieve that I've seen before include "Misappropriate" , "Nick things" , "appropriate" , "Pilfer" , "Steal things" .)