Detective folio cast aside for being of little importance (8)
I believe the answer is:
piffling
'being of little importance' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are present participle verbs, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'detective folio cast aside' is the wordplay.
'detective' becomes 'PI' (private investigator).
'folio' becomes 'f' (publishing abbreviation).
'cast aside' becomes 'fling' (synonyms).
'pi'+'f'+'fling'='PIFFLING'
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for piffling that I've seen before include "Mickey Mouse" , "Of no importance at all" , "Trivially tiny" , "Minor" , "Informally trivial or worthless" .)