Time saved by European poet (5)
I believe the answer is:
dante
'poet' is the definition.
(I know that Dante is a poet)
'time saved by european' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'saved by' is an insertion indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'european' becomes 'dane' (someone from Denmark).
't' inserted into 'dane' is 'DANTE'.
(Other definitions for dante that I've seen before include "Italian poet, 1265-1321" , "Author of the Divine Comedy, d. 1321" , "Italian poet, writer of the Divine Comedy" , "Thirteenth-fourteenth century Italian poet" , "Great Italian poet of 'The Divine Comedy'" .)