Captain leaving for culinary competition (4,3)

I believe the answer is:

cook off

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'culinary competition' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'captain leaving' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'captain' could be 'cook' (captain james cook) and 'cook' is found within the answer.
'leaving' could be 'off' ('I'm off' means 'I'm leaving') and 'off' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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