Not having a prayer in the Miss Elegance competition? (9)
I believe the answer is:
graceless
'not having a prayer' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'in the miss elegance competition?' is the wordplay.
'in the' is an insertion indicator.
'miss elegance' becomes 'gless' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'competition?' becomes 'race' (race is a kind of competition).
'gless' placed around 'race' is 'GRACELESS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for graceless that I've seen before include "Indecorous" , "Awkward" , "clumsy" , "Lacking elegance" .)