Long, flexible carpet rod, tacked at the front (10)
I believe the answer is:
protracted
'long' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'flexible carpet rod tacked at the front' is the wordplay.
'flexible' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'at the front' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'tacked' is 't'.
'carpet'+'rod'+'t'='carpetrodt'
'carpetrodt' is an anagram of 'PROTRACTED'.
(Other definitions for protracted that I've seen before include "Dragged out" , "Lengthy" , "Drawn-out" , "Lengthened out" .)