Spotted poor soul being restrained by staff (8)

I believe the answer is:

maculose

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'spotted' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'poor soul being restrained by staff' is the wordplay.
'poor' indicates anagramming the letters.
'being restrained by' is an insertion indicator.
'staff' becomes 'mace' (a mace is a ceremonial staff or stick).
'soul' anagrammed gives 'ulos'.
'ulos' going inside 'mace' is 'MACULOSE'.

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I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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