Staff, unusual weapon clutched by maiden queen (8)
I believe the answer is:
manpower
'staff' is the definition.
(manpower can mean staff resources)
'unusual weapon clutched by maiden queen' is the wordplay.
'unusual' is an anagram indicator.
'clutched by' is an insertion indicator.
'maiden' becomes 'm' (cricket abbreviation).
'queen' becomes 'r' (r is abbreviation regina. e.g. in ER ).
'weapon' with letters rearranged gives 'anpowe'.
'm'+'r'='mr'
'anpowe' placed within 'mr' is 'MANPOWER'.
(Other definitions for manpower that I've seen before include "Work force" , "Staff resources" , "People available for work" , "labour force" , "Workforce" .)