Functions for old painters working around Oxford (10)

I believe the answer is:

operations

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'oxford' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'functions for old painters working' is the wordplay.
'functions for' becomes 'o' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'working' is an anagram indicator.
'o'+'painters'='opainters'
'opainters' is an anagram of 'perations'.
'o'+'perations'='OPERATIONS'

'around' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for operations that I've seen is " surgical procedures".)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.

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