Recluse rings academic person at home in capital (8)
I believe the answer is:
londoner
'person at home in capital' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'recluse rings academic' is the wordplay.
'recluse' becomes 'loner' (lonely or isolated person).
'rings' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters are ringed or contained by others).
'academic' becomes 'don' (type of academic - especially at Oxbridge).
'loner' going around 'don' is 'LONDONER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for londoner that I've seen before include "British citizen" , "One from UK's capital" , "who uses capital for home?" , "Person from England's capital" , "Native of the great wen" .)