State the upstart has a battered hat (4)
I believe the answer is:
utah
'state' is the definition.
(Utah is an example)
'the upstart has a battered hat' is the wordplay.
'the upstart' becomes 'u' (start of the word 'up').
'has' says to put letters next to each other.
'a battered' indicates an anagram.
'hat' is an anagram of 'tah'.
'u'+'tah'='UTAH'
(Other definitions for utah that I've seen before include "State of last Winter Olympics" , "American state associated with Mormons and their faith" , "Mormon US state" , "US state, capital Salt Lake City" , "State founded by Mormon" .)