Close to remarkable, involving fine end to day (9)
I believe the answer is:
nightfall
'day' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to time as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'close to remarkable involving fine end' is the wordplay.
'close to' becomes 'nigh' (I've seen this in another clue).
'remarkable' becomes 'tall' (I've seen this before).
'involving' indicates putting letters inside.
'fine end' becomes 'f' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'tall' going around 'f' is 'tfall'.
'nigh'+'tfall'='NIGHTFALL'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nightfall that I've seen before include "when visibility reduces" , "Evening" , "Arrival of darkness" , "End of day" , "gloaming" .)