Topless dance in clubs twice lifted spirit (6)
I believe the answer is:
cognac
'topless dance' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'in clubs twice lifted spirit' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'clubs' becomes 'c' (abbreviation in card games).
'twice' becomes 'nac' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lifted' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (going up in down clue).
'spirit' becomes 'go'.
'go' in reverse letter order is 'og'.
'c'+'nac'='cnac'
'cnac' enclosing 'og' is 'COGNAC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cognac that I've seen before include "Brandy as for Napoleon (6)." , "strong drink" , "French brandy region" , "High quality brandy" , "High-quality brandy" .)