One, surrounded by accommodating people, uses an elevator (6)
I believe the answer is:
hoists
'uses an elevator' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'one surrounded by accommodating people' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'one' could be 'i' (Roman numeral) and 'i' is found within the answer.
'people' could be 'hosts' (host is a kind of person) and 'hosts' is present in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hoists that I've seen before include "Lifts with ropes and pulley" , "Lifts with a crane" , "Raises or hauls up" , "Lifting devices" .)