A starter for Alfred for instance (7)
I believe the answer is:
initial
'a starter' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'alfred for instance' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'alfred' could be 'al' and 'al' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for initial that I've seen before include "First letter of a name" , "Approve" , "shortened version of my name" , "Occurring at the beginnng" , "Introductory" .)