Pedants elevated knighted figure in places (7)
I believe the answer is:
purists
'pedants' is the definition.
(I know this)
'elevated knighted figure in places' is the wordplay.
'elevated' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up).
'knighted figure' becomes 'sir' (knights have the title 'Sir').
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'places' becomes 'puts' ('put' can be a synonym of 'place').
'sir' backwards is 'ris'.
'ris' put within 'puts' is 'PURISTS'.
(Other definitions for purists that I've seen before include "fastidious types" , "pedants" , "Pedantic folk" , "Sticklers for traditional rules" .)