Elegant people in volatile Gulf (8)
I believe the answer is:
graceful
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">elegant</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I know that elegant can be written as graceful)</span><br/ ><br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">people in volatile gulf</span>' is the wordplay.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">people</span>' becomes '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">race</span>' <span class="explanation-format__explanation">(people can mean a national group or race)</span>.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">in</span>' is an insertion indicator.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">volatile</span>' indicates an anagram.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">gulf</span>' anagrammed gives '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">gful</span>'.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">race</span>' put within '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">gful</span>' is '<span class="explanation-format__answer">GRACEFUL</span>'.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for graceful that I've seen before include "Elegant, moving beautifully" , "Elegant in movement or manner" , "Elegant and moving easily" , "Moving easily and elegantly" , "Fluid" .)