Lying by a judge accepted by Ant and Dec surprisingly (8)
I believe the answer is:
adjacent
'lying' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'a judge accepted by ant and dec surprisingly' is the wordplay.
'judge' becomes 'J' (abbreviation for judge).
'accepted by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are accepted).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'surprisingly' indicates anagramming the letters (a surprising ordering of the letters).
'ant' after 'dec' is 'decant'.
'decant' with letters rearranged gives 'dacent'.
'j' inserted inside 'dacent' is 'djacent'.
'a'+'djacent'='ADJACENT'
'by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adjacent that I've seen before include "Close by" , "Lying near, bordering" , "Abutting" , "cheek by jowl" , "next door" .)