Gold cups about to be for strong beer (7)
I believe the answer is:
october
'strong beer' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'gold cups about to be' is the wordplay.
'gold cups' becomes 'ocr' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'to'+'be'='tobe'
'ocr' going around 'tobe' is 'OCTOBER'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for october that I've seen before include "Month of nineteen seventeen Bolshevik revolution in Russia" , "To be orc (anag)" , "Strong ale" , "21st = Trafalgar Day" , "Pre-Caesarean calendar's eighth month" .)