For Jackman, half staff in race? (5)
I believe the answer is:
human
'for jackman' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'half staff in race?' is the wordplay.
'half' indicates taking half.
'staff' becomes 'mace' (a mace is a ceremonial staff or stick).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'race?' becomes 'hun' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mace' with half the letters taken is 'ma'.
'ma' placed within 'hun' is 'HUMAN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for human that I've seen before include "Relating to mankind" , "Anthropoid" , "Mortal; compassionate" , "Relating to a person" , "Of the species of homo sapiens" .)