For a motel, a strange colour (7)
I believe the answer is:
oatmeal
'strange colour' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'for a motel a' is the wordplay.
'a motel a' can be anagrammed to 'OATMEAL'.
However, I am not clear how the anagram is indicated.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oatmeal that I've seen before include "The material for porridge" , "Pale variegated brown colour" , "The stuff porridge is made from" , "Porridge constituent" , "Basis of porridge" .)