Maybe nurse succeeds before charlatan (9)
I believe the answer is:
pretender
'charlatan' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'maybe nurse succeeds before' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'nurse' could be 'tender' (a nurse tends to patients) and 'tender' is found in the answer.
'before' could be 'pre' (prefix meaning 'before') and 'pre' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pretender that I've seen before include "fake" , "One who claims a title or position" , "Claimant to a throne, usually without just title" , "One acting" , "Claimant, like Bonnie Prince Charlie" .)