What can appear long until just before November? (4)
I believe the answer is:
year
'november?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to time as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'what can appear long until just before' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'before' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'yar' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for year that I've seen before include "One tenth of a decade" , "Time for earth to go round sun" , "Period of 5 across" , "12 months" , "See 19" .)