Children's author is short after asking clumsily for loads of money (1,5,6)
I believe the answer is:
a kings ransom
'loads of money' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.
'children's author is short after asking clumsily' is the wordplay.
'children's author' becomes 'Ransome' (Swallows and Amazons author Arthur Ransome).
'is short' means to remove the last letter.
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'clumsily' indicates an anagram.
'ransome' with its last letter taken off is 'ransom'.
'asking' anagrammed gives 'akings'.
'ransom' after 'akings' is 'A KINGS RANSOM'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for a kings ransom that I've seen before include "A very large sum of money" , "for delivery by Royalists?" , "Bomb" , "lots of money" , "Huge amount of money" .)