They're broken at times (5)
I believe the answer is:
dates
'times' is the definition.
(date is a kind of time)
'they're broken' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'broken' could be 'ate' (eating is a kind of breaking) and 'ate' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'at' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dates that I've seen before include "Fruits and pre-arranged meetings" , "Sweet edible fruits of a palm" , "appearing on most coins" , "Small tree-fruits or social appointments" , "Trysts" .)