Poisonous type without delay to drop second article (3)
I believe the answer is:
asp
'poisonous type' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'without delay to drop second article' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'second' could be 's' (common abbreviation) and 's' is found within the answer.
'article' could be 'a' (the indefinite article in English) and 'a' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'p' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for asp that I've seen before include "Cleopatra-killing snake" , "Slithery thing" , "Joe Blake is Australian species" , "the snake in Cleopatra''s bosom" , "Serpent" .)