Practice techniques initially ran idiot ragged (9)
I believe the answer is:
tradition
'practice' is the definition.
(tradition is a kind of practice)
'techniques initially ran idiot ragged' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'ragged' is an anagram indicator.
The first letter of 'techniques' is 't'.
'ran'+'idiot'='ranidiot'
'ranidiot' with letters rearranged gives 'radition'.
't'+'radition'='TRADITION'
(Other definitions for tradition that I've seen before include "Transmitted customs" , "stuck in the old ways" , "Practice of long standing" , "Long-established custom or belief" , "old habit" .)