Bitter client spilled -- guys mopped up (9)
I believe the answer is:
inclement
'bitter' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'client spilled guys mopped up' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'guys' could be 'men' (guy can mean a man) and 'men' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'client' is 'inclet' which is within the left over letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for inclement that I've seen before include "Such harsh weather" , "lacking mercy" , "bitter" , "Stormy" , "(Of weather) bad" .)