Belligerent sort of nutter took in the copper left (9)
I believe the answer is:
truculent
'belligerent' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'sort of nutter took in the copper left' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'copper' could be 'cu' (Cu is the chemical symbol for copper) and 'cu' is found in the answer.
'left' could be 'l' (common abbreviation) and 'l' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for truculent that I've seen before include "Quarrelsome" , "Obstreperous" , "Aggressively defiant" , "Surly" , "Defiantly aggressive" .)