A peer briefly in DC? Yes, from a state that has most things! (8)
I believe the answer is:
adequacy
'a state that has most things' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'a peer briefly in dc? yes from' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'yes' could be 'y' and 'y' is found within the answer.
'from' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adequacy that I've seen before include "Sufficiency" , "Sufficient amount" , "Acceptable competence" , "It's enough" .)