Cut support for drained writer, the poor thing (6)
I believe the answer is:
wretch
'poor thing' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'cut support for drained writer' is the wordplay.
'cut' becomes 'etch' (I've seen this before).
'support for' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters 'support' others).
'drained' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'writer' with its centre taken out is 'wr'.
'etch' put after 'wr' is 'WRETCH'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wretch that I've seen before include "Scoundrel" , "Good-for-nothing" , "A pitiful, unfortunate person" , "Poor miserable creature" , "Despicable person" .)