Exhausted writer to lie in the street (5)
I believe the answer is:
spent
'exhausted' is the definition.
(I know that exhausted can be written as spent)
'writer to lie in the street' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'writer' could be 'pen' (something which writes) and 'pen' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spent that I've seen before include "Worn out, having laid out money" , "Used up; exhausted" , "Splashed out" , "Drained of energy - or paid out" , "Worn out having paid out money." .)