One highly esteemed in the ring (8,5)

I believe the answer is:

precious stone

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'ring' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'one highly esteemed in the' is the wordplay.
'one highly esteemed' becomes 'precious' (I've seen this before).
'in the' becomes 'stone' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'precious'+'stone'='PRECIOUS STONE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for precious stone that I've seen before include "Diamond, perhaps" , "Gem or jewel" , "rock" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.

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