Beast about to grab a girl — not fair (8)
I believe the answer is:
brunette
'not fair' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'beast about to grab' is the wordplay.
'beast' becomes 'brute' (synonyms).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'to grab' becomes 'net' (netting is a kind of grabbing).
'brute' placed around 'net' is 'BRUNETTE'.
'a girl' 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 brunette that I've seen before include "Not being fair" , "Hair colour" , "Person with dark brown hair" , "She's certainly not a blonde" , "Dark-haired woman" .)