Clumsy host paired with dab hands (8)
I believe the answer is:
hotshots
'dab hands' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'clumsy host paired' is the wordplay.
'clumsy' indicates an anagram.
'paired' becomes 'hots' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'host' with letters rearranged gives 'hots'.
'hots'+'hots'='HOTSHOTS'
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hotshots that I've seen before include "Slang experts using warm guns?" , "Snipers" , "stars" .)