Well-respected Wade meets Evert over drinks (8)
I believe the answer is:
esteemed
'well-respected' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'wade meets evert over drinks' is the wordplay.
'drinks' indicates a hidden word (words in the clue have absorbed the answer).
'over' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'demeetse' can be found hidden inside 'wade meets evert'.
'demeetse' back-to-front is 'ESTEEMED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for esteemed that I've seen before include "Prized" , "Had great respect for" , "Regarded with respect" , "Respected, admired" , "Respected and valued, like customer" .)