Course set south in barren terrain (7)
I believe the answer is:
dessert
'course' is the definition.
(dessert is a kind of course)
'set south in barren terrain' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'south' could be 's' (abbreviation) and 's' is found within the answer.
'barren' could be 'desert' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'desert' is present in the remaining 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 dessert that I've seen before include "tart?" , "Fruit and nuts, perhaps" , "Sweet, last course of a meal" , "Spotted Dick is one" , "Christmas pudding maybe" .)