Celebrity beats retired adventurer (8)
I believe the answer is:
spaceman
'adventurer' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'celebrity beats retired' is the wordplay.
'celebrity' becomes 'name' (as in a 'big name').
'beats' becomes 'caps' (cap can mean to beat or outdo).
'retired' says the letters should be written backwards.
'name'+'caps'='namecaps'
'namecaps' backwards is 'SPACEMAN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spaceman that I've seen before include "Armstrong, say" , "Distant traveller" , "High flier" , "Armstrong, perhaps?" , "one requiring a supply of oxygen?" .)