Negligent woman coming second in extremities (8)
I believe the answer is:
slattern
'negligent woman coming' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'second in extremities' is the wordplay.
'second' becomes 'latter' (latter can mean the second of two mentioned things).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'extremities' becomes 'sn' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'latter' put inside 'sn' is 'SLATTERN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for slattern that I've seen before include "not a smart girl" , "Slovenly person" , "Grubby woman" , "Cow" , "Sloven" .)