Harvest successful, though failing at outset (6)
I believe the answer is:
inning
'outset' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to time as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'harvest successful though failing at' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'successful' could be 'in' (similar in meaning) and 'in' is present in the answer.
'at' could be 'in' (synonymous in some cases - eg at school, in school) and 'in' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for inning that I've seen before include "Turn to bat at baseball" , "One of nine divisions of play in baseball" , "Part of game" , "Division of play in baseball" , "Period of batting in cricket" .)