About to cut excellent exotic fruit (4)
I believe the answer is:
acai
'fruit' is the definition.
(I know that Acai is a fruit)
'about to cut excellent' is the wordplay.
'about' becomes 'ca' (abbreviation for 'circa').
'to cut' is an insertion indicator (some letters cut their way into a word).
'excellent' becomes 'ai' (resembles 'Ac', old-fashioned term for excellent).
'ca' placed within 'ai' is 'ACAI'.
'exotic' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acai that I've seen before include "fruit which is nutritious" , "South American palm tree" , "South American food product" , "something nutritional to eat" .)