Abandon visitor from afar in a variety of joints (8)
I believe the answer is:
jettison
'abandon' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'visitor from afar in a variety of joints' is the wordplay.
'visitor from afar' becomes 'et' (extra terrestrial).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a variety of' indicates anagramming the letters.
'joints' with letters rearranged gives 'jtison'.
'et' going within 'jtison' is 'JETTISON'.
(Other definitions for jettison that I've seen before include "Throw away (from ship or aeroplane?)" , "Throw (into the sea)" , "21 [OFFLOAD]" , "Deliberately dump overboard" , "Eject" .)