A number beaten in the final (7)
I believe the answer is:
closing
'final' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'a number beaten in' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'number' could be 'l' (L is an example) and 'l' is located in the answer.
'in' is within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for closing that I've seen before include "Ending" , "packing up" , "Shutting" , "Finishing" .)