Reformed hero tries to be an original thinker (9)
I believe the answer is:
theoriser
'be an original thinker' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'reformed hero tries' is the wordplay.
'reformed' indicates an anagram.
'hero'+'tries'='herotries'
'herotries' with letters rearranged gives 'THEORISER'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for theoriser that I've seen before include "one who speculates" , "speculator" , "he thinks" , "One who reasons" , "One who has convictions" .)