It's in Lear -- changing it upset them? (8)
I believe the answer is:
literati
'them?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'it's in lear changing it upset' is the wordplay.
'it's' becomes 'it' (I've seen this in other clues).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'changing' indicates an anagram.
'upset' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'it' backwards is 'ti'.
'lear' is an anagram of 'lera'.
'it' inserted inside 'lera' is 'litera'.
'litera'+'ti'='LITERATI'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for literati that I've seen before include "Literary intelligentsia" , "Well-educated readers" , "Well-read and scholarly people" , "Bookish types" , "Educated book readers" .)