Dynamic fellow ultimately rising in rank (5)
I believe the answer is:
tiger
'dynamic fellow' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'ultimately rising in rank' is the wordplay.
'ultimately' suggests the final letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'rank' becomes 'tier' (tier is a kind of rank**).
The final letter of 'rising' is 'g'.
'g' placed into 'tier' is 'TIGER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tiger that I've seen before include "Beast - type of 1 across" , "Dangerous animal" , "Beast as Shere Khan" , "Carnivorous large cat" , "Endangered carnivore" .)