Nag coke and heroin overwhelm imaginative skill (9)
I believe the answer is:
carthorse
'nag' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'coke and heroin overwhelm imaginative skill' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'coke' could be 'c' (synonyms) and 'c' is located in the answer.
'heroin' could be 'horse' (slang term for heroin) and 'horse' is found within the answer.
'skill' could be 'art' (both can mean a talent) and 'art' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for carthorse that I've seen before include "large drawer" , "Equine" , "has pulling power" , "Beast of burden" .)