Alienated from the outset, spelling danger (9)
I believe the answer is:
estranged
'alienated' is the definition.
(I know that alienated can be written as estranged)
'from the outset spelling danger' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'from' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'danger' is 'ranged' which is within the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for estranged that I've seen before include "Sad regent (anag) - disaffected" , "no longer friendly" , "Having become unfriendly or alienated" , "Cut off" , "Alienated, disaffected" .)