Outlandish county cut off after lockdown starts (7)

I believe the answer is:

surreal

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'outlandish' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'off after lockdown starts' is the wordplay.
'off' becomes 'surre' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'starts' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'after lockdown' is 'al'.
'surre'+'al'='SURREAL'

'county cut' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for surreal that I've seen before include "strange" , "Weird; dreamlike" , "RA rules (anag.)" , "Outlandish" , "Odd" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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