Special poets are honoured people (9)
I believe the answer is:
laureates
'special poets are honoured people' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'special poets are' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'special' could be 's' (common abbreviation as in Special Air Service) and 's' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'are' is 'rea' which is within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for laureates that I've seen before include "eminent poets" , "Special poets are honoured people" .)