Patron of the arts cutting fancy rope - time to get to work (5-4)

I believe the answer is:

opera-goer

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'patron of the arts' is the definition.
(opera is an art)

'cutting fancy rope time to get to work' is the wordplay.
'cutting fancy rope time' becomes 'goer' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to get' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'to work' becomes 'opera' (musical work).
'goer' after 'opera' is 'OPERA-GOER'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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