Gangling new king in place (5)
I believe the answer is:
lanky
'gangling' is the definition.
(I know that gangling can be written as lanky)
'new king in place' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'king' becomes 'K' (abbreviation for king in chess).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'place' becomes 'lay' (synonyms).
'n'+'k'='nk'
'nk' placed within 'lay' is 'LANKY'.
(Other definitions for lanky that I've seen before include "Awkwardly long and thin" , "Long and slender" , "Tall and gangling" , "Far from podgy" , "Tall and angular" .)