A novel, badly written, about a royal that sends one to sleep (7)
I believe the answer is:
veronal
'a novel badly written about a royal that sends one to sleep' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'a novel badly written about a royal' is the wordplay.
'badly' indicates an anagram.
'written about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a royal' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'a'+'novel'='anovel'
'anovel' anagrammed gives 'veonal'.
'veonal' enclosing 'r' is 'VERONAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for veronal that I've seen before include "draught?" , "Barbiturate (from Italian city?)" , "Sedative" .)