African was quick to grasp rod (7)
I believe the answer is:
rwandan
'african' is the definition.
(Rwanda is an African country)
'was quick to grasp rod' is the wordplay.
'was quick' becomes 'ran' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to grasp' indicates putting letters inside.
'rod' becomes 'wand' (wand is a kind of rod).
'ran' enclosing 'wand' is 'RWANDAN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rwandan that I've seen before include "African native" , "Kigali native, perhaps" , "Eg, a native of Kigali" , "From a central African country" , "African chap" .)