At one in the afternoon, she can possibly have ale (3)
I believe the answer is:
pam
'have ale' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'at one in the afternoon she can' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is found within the answer.
'afternoon' could be 'pm' and 'pm' is found within the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'possibly' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pam that I've seen before include "Female" , "Short girl's name" , "- Ayres, English poet" .)