Niki starts beating Len Evans? That's praiseworthy? (8)
I believe the answer is:
laudable
'praiseworthy?' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'niki starts beating len evans?' is the wordplay.
'niki' becomes 'lauda' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'starts' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'beating len evans' is 'ble'.
'lauda'+'ble'='LAUDABLE'
'that's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for laudable that I've seen before include "Praiseworthy, commendable" , "Worthy of high praise" , "Excellent" , "Meritorious" , "Good enough to praise" .)