Not in the running when dead to the world (3,2,2)
I believe the answer is:
out of it
'dead to the world' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for out of it that I've seen before include "Forlorn" , "Eliminated" , "Drunk < , unaware what is happening" , "is not included" , "unaware of what's going on" .)