Naked Yankee claiming length is something over a foot (5)
I believe the answer is:
ankle
'a foot' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'naked yankee claiming length' is the wordplay.
'naked' says to take the centre (outside letters removed so centre is unclothed).
'claiming' is an insertion indicator.
'length' becomes 'l' (abbreviation in geometry).
The centre of 'yankee' is 'anke'.
'anke' placed around 'l' is 'ANKLE'.
'is something over' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ankle that I've seen before include "Bone over foot" , "Foot-leg connector" , "Major joint in lower limb" , "Low joint" , "Joint between foot and leg" .)