Sailor's uniform covered by awkwardly lain cat (8)
I believe the answer is:
nautical
'sailor's uniform covered by awkwardly lain cat' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'uniform covered by awkwardly lain cat' is the wordplay.
'uniform' becomes 'U' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'covered by' is an insertion indicator.
'awkwardly' is an anagram indicator.
'lain'+'cat'='laincat'
'laincat' anagrammed gives 'natical'.
'u' placed inside 'natical' is 'NAUTICAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nautical that I've seen before include "Of shipping and navigation" , "Relating to sailors" , "Of ships and navigation" , "Concerning sailors" , "concerning ratings, etc?" .)