Creativity shown by Dire Straits, short of opening tracks (8)
I believe the answer is:
artistry
'creativity' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'dire straits short of opening tracks' is the wordplay.
'dire' indicates anagramming the letters.
'short of' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'short' mean this).
'opening' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters appear before or \'open\' others).
'tracks' becomes 'RY' (abbreviation for railway).
'straits' with its last letter removed is 'strait'.
'strait' with letters rearranged gives 'artist'.
'artist'+'ry'='ARTISTRY'
'shown by' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for artistry that I've seen before include "ability" , "Expertise" , "Genius" , "Creative skill learned by study and practice" , "Creativity" .)