Maintenance of a better stronghold? (6)
I believe the answer is:
upkeep
'maintenance' is the definition.
('upkeep' can be a synonym of 'maintenance')
'a better stronghold?' is the wordplay.
'a better' becomes 'up' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'stronghold?' becomes 'keep' (keep is a kind of stronghold).
'up'+'keep'='UPKEEP'
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for upkeep that I've seen before include "Cost of maintenance, say household" , "Looking after" , "Cost of maintaining" , "Cost of support" , "Peek up at the maintenance" .)