Imagine this clue starts out as cryptic (9)
I believe the answer is:
enigmatic
'cryptic' is the definition.
(both mean puzzling)
'imagine this clue starts out' is the wordplay.
'starts' says to take the initial letters.
'out' is an anagram indicator (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
The initial letters of 'this clue' is 'tc'.
'imagine'+'tc'='imaginetc'
'imaginetc' is an anagram of 'ENIGMATIC'.
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for enigmatic that I've seen before include "not obvious" , "Mystifying" , "Like a puzzle" , "Puzzling, like the Sphinx" , "Hard to fathom" .)