Part of spring article this writer’s penned (3)
I believe the answer is:
may
'part of spring' is the definition.
(May is a spring month)
'article this writer's penned' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'article' could be 'a' (the indefinite article in English) and 'a' is found in the answer.
'writer's' could be 'my' (belonging to the person who set the crossword) and 'my' is located in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for may that I've seen before include "'5 _____' (popular piece of music by Bach)" , "Month - tree" , "Time" , "The merry merry month( 3)" , "maid" .)