Participant in last round is OK, they say, with second-rate table? (8)
I believe the answer is:
finalist
'participant in last round' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'ok they say with second-rate table?' is the wordplay.
'ok they say' becomes 'fin' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'second rate' becomes 'a' (ind letter of 'rate').
'table?' becomes 'list'.
'fin'+'a'+'list'='FINALIST'
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for finalist that I've seen before include "No more rounds for me!" , "Participant in the last round of a competition" , "Competitor who reaches the last stage" , "possible winner" , "Sportsman who gets into the last round" .)