Bath, say, girl left clutching small blanket (9)
I believe the answer is:
universal
'blanket' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bath say girl left clutching small' is the wordplay.
'bath say' becomes 'uni' (University of Bath).
'girl' becomes 'vera' ().
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'clutching' indicates putting letters inside.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'vera'+'l'='veral'
'veral' enclosing 's' is 'versal'.
'uni'+'versal'='UNIVERSAL'
(Other definitions for universal that I've seen before include "Widespread, worldwide" , "All-inclusive" , "Ubiquitous" , "Common" , "Sort of joint" .)