Failing to drink round by bar that's silent (9)
I believe the answer is:
voiceless
'that's silent' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'failing to drink round by bar' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'round' could be 'o' (round can mean a round object) and 'o' is located in the answer.
'failing' could be 'vice' (vice can mean a moral failing) and 'vice' is present in the leftover letters.
'bar' could be 'less' (both can mean 'not including') and 'less' is present in the answer.
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 voiceless that I've seen before include "Dumb" , "Mum" .)