Play For Time Meaning

(idiomatic) To delay a situation until one is prepared.

Example: 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”:
  Two cheers for that, at best. The original six party talks ran, or rather crawled, from 2003 to 2008. It remains unclear if North Korea was ever serious – or just playing for time while working on HEU.