Crossword Genius

Eye raves possibly in this time for partying (3,5,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

new years eve

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

'in this time for partying' is the definition.
'new years eve' can be an answer for 'time' (I've seen this before). I'm not sure about the remainder of the definition.

'eye raves' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'raves' is 'arsev' which is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'eye' is 'yee' which is within the remaining letters.
The remaining letters 'new' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'possibly' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for new years eve that I've seen before include "December thirty-first" , "Party time" , "Hogmanay" , "December 31 st" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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