Crossword Genius

Ahead of Cup winger shows class (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pigeonhole

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'class' is the definition.
(I know that pigeonhole is a kind of class)

'ahead of cup winger' is the wordplay.
'ahead of' says to put letters next to each other (some letters go in front of others).
'cup' becomes 'hole' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'winger' becomes 'pigeon' (type of bird).
'hole' put after 'pigeon' is 'PIGEONHOLE'.

'shows' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pigeonhole that I've seen before include "Recess in loft" , "Classify; bird's home" , "wherein one may put post" , "Categorise" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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