Getting better sports ground finished before end of January (8)
I believe the answer is:
recovery
'getting better' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'sports ground finished before end of january' is the wordplay.
'sports ground' becomes 'rec' (I've seen this in other clues).
'finished' becomes 'over' ('over' can be similar in meaning to 'finished').
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'end of' suggests the final letters.
The final letter of 'january' is 'y'.
'rec'+'over'+'y'='RECOVERY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for recovery that I've seen before include "Convalescence" , "Act of getting better" , "Retrieval - restoration of health" , "A return to a normal state of health" , "Improvement" .)