I note Judge without money bumping off writer - painful (9)
I believe the answer is:
injurious
'painful' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'i note judge without money bumping off writer' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'i' is present in the answer.
'note' could be 'iou' (I owe you, a promise to pay a debt) and 'iou' is located in the answer.
'judge' could be 'j' (abbreviation for judge) and 'j' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'nurs' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for injurious that I've seen before include "insulting" , "Harmful" , "Hurtful" , "Wrongful" , "Damaging (to reputation, say)" .)