American writer upsets editor in South Dakota temporarily out of work (9)
I believe the answer is:
suspended
'american writer upsets editor in south dakota temporarily out of work' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'american writer upsets editor in south dakota' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'us'.
'writer' becomes 'pen' (I've seen this before).
'upsets editor' becomes 'de' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'south dakota' becomes 'sd'.
'us'+'pen'+'de'='uspende'
'uspende' going into 'sd' is 'SUSPENDED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for suspended that I've seen before include "Temporarily disallowed" , "deferred" , "In abeyance" , "Temporary cessation of vital functions" , "having a hang-up?" .)