Might time’s character be so described in Ariosto? (11)
I believe the answer is:
penultimate
'so described in ariosto?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'might time's character' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'character' could be 'pe' (pe is a kind of character) and 'pe' is located in the answer.
'time' could be 't' (abbreviation) and 't' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'be' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for penultimate that I've seen before include "Next to last" , "not quite at the rear" , "Not quite the last" , "Last-but-one" , "Last but one" .)