No-nonsense tutor discontented by charm (9)
I believe the answer is:
trenchant
'no-nonsense' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'tutor discontented by charm' is the wordplay.
'discontented' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (the word's contents are removed).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'charm' becomes 'enchant' (enchanting is a kind of charming).
'tutor' with its middle removed is 'tr'.
'tr'+'enchant'='TRENCHANT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trenchant that I've seen before include "Keen" , "Cutting, forthright" , "Vigorous, incisive" , "biting" , "Forceful" .)