Wanted a chap to be on time (7)
I believe the answer is:
yearned
'wanted' is the definition.
(yearning is a kind of wanting)
'a chap to be on time' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'chap' could be 'ned' and 'ned' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for yearned that I've seen before include "Craved" , "Ached" , "Longed (for something)" , "Longed, hankered" , "Did long" .)