Aristocrat and king in outstanding environment (4)
I believe the answer is:
duke
'aristocrat' is the definition.
(duke is a kind of aristocrat)
'king in outstanding environment' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'king' could be 'k' (abbreviation for king in chess) and 'k' is present in the answer.
'outstanding' could be 'due' (an outstanding debt is due) and 'due' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for duke that I've seen before include "Fist (sl.)" , "Nickname of John Wayne" , "Lord" , "Highest hereditary title in Britain" , "- - Ellington (jazz musician)" .)