Were distracted about noon only to begin again (5)
I believe the answer is:
renew
'to begin again' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'were distracted about noon' is the wordplay.
'distracted' indicates an anagram.
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'noon' becomes 'n' (abbreviation).
'were' with letters rearranged gives 'reew'.
'reew' placed around 'n' is 'RENEW'.
'only' is the link.
This may not be right. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for renew that I've seen before include "Update library book, acquaintance, etc" , "Extend loan period" , "Renovate" , "Start afresh" , "Transform born-again" .)