Fair cut taken by graduate (8)
I believe the answer is:
balanced
'fair' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'cut taken by graduate' is the wordplay.
'cut' becomes 'lanced' (lancing is a kind of cutting**).
'taken by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'graduate' becomes 'ba'.
'lanced' after 'ba' is 'BALANCED'.
(Other definitions for balanced that I've seen before include "Stable - poised" , "Poised, held in equilibrium" , "Equitable" , "Having different elements in the correct proportions, in a diet say" , "Steady - objective" .)