Student arranged roses for runners-up (6)
I believe the answer is:
losers
'runners-up' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'student arranged roses' is the wordplay.
'student' becomes 'l' (as in L-plates for learner drivers).
'arranged' is an anagram indicator (letters rearranged).
'roses' is an anagram of 'osers'.
'l'+'osers'='LOSERS'
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for losers that I've seen before include "Odd sorels never win" , "Odd sorels don't win" , "Also-rans" , "They're unsuccessful" , "They're defeated" .)