Alf may be out to take in the big match (5)
I believe the answer is:
final
'the big match' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'alf may be out to take' is the wordplay.
'may be' indicates an anagram.
'out' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'to take' becomes 'in' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'alf' is an anagram of 'fal'.
'fal' enclosing 'in' is 'FINAL'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for final that I've seen before include "Last match in a competition" , "Concluding" , "Last in a series of games or contests" , "Like one's journey to cemetery" , "Conclusive" .)