One very fair king with success stopping rapacity (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
greek god
'one very fair' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'king with success stopping rapacity' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'K' (abbreviation for king in chess).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'success' becomes 'go' (I've seen this in other clues).
'stopping' indicates putting letters inside (stopping can mean blocking a gap).
'rapacity' becomes 'greed' (synonyms).
'k'+'go'='kgo'
'kgo' put into 'greed' is 'GREEK GOD'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for greek god that I've seen before include "Pan, for example" , "dish" .)