Crossword Genius

A wonderful epoch in which to have a ball (6,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lovely time

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'ball' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'a wonderful epoch in which to have a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'have' could be 'love' (synonyms) and 'love' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

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I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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