Bothers artist in working around river (9)

I believe the answer is:

irritants

'bothers' is the definition.
(I know this)

'artist in working around river' is the wordplay.
'working' indicates anagramming the letters.
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'artist'+'in'='artistin'
'artistin' anagrammed gives 'iritants'.
'iritants' enclosing 'r' is 'IRRITANTS'.

(Another definition for irritants that I've seen is " Annoying things".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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