It may be checked for drink and meat around midnight (7)
I believe the answer is:
gingham
'it may be checked' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'drink and meat around midnight' is the wordplay.
'drink' becomes 'gin' (gin is an alcoholic drink).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'meat' becomes 'ham' (ham is a kind of meat).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'midnight' becomes 'g' (the middle letter in 'night').
'gin'+'ham'='ginham'
'ginham' enclosing 'g' is 'GINGHAM'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gingham that I've seen before include "Fabric in a plaid weave" , "Striped, or checked, cotton fabric" , "Cotton cloth woven with coloured checks" , "Lightweight cotton fabric" , "Lightweight cotton cloth" .)