Copper slapped about puritan? Time to act! (7-2)

'act' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'copper slapped about puritan? time' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'copper' could be 'cu' (chemical symbol) and 'cu' is located in the answer.
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is found in the answer.
'time' could be 't' (abbreviation) and 't' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'to' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?