Defender at front turns late to block attempt of extremely poor quality (9)
I believe the answer is:
shoddiest
'defender at front turns late to block attempt of extremely poor quality' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'defender at front turns late to block attempt' is the wordplay.
'at front' says to take the initial letters.
'turns late' becomes 'dies' (dying is a kind of turning. I am not sure about the 'late' bit.).
'to block' indicates putting letters inside (block can mean to fill a hole in something).
'attempt' becomes 'shot' (shot is a kind of attempt).
The initial letter of 'defender' is 'd'.
'd'+'dies'='ddies'
'ddies' placed into 'shot' is 'SHODDIEST'.
Can you help me to learn more?