Rotten secretary hiding introduction to promissory note (6)
I believe the answer is:
septic
'rotten' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'secretary hiding introduction to promissory note' is the wordplay.
'secretary' becomes 'sec'.
'hiding' indicates putting letters inside.
'introduction to' says to take the initial letters.
'note' becomes 'ti' (musical note as in do re mi fa so la ti).
The initial letter of 'promissory' is 'p'.
'p'+'ti'='pti'
'sec' placed around 'pti' is 'SEPTIC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for septic that I've seen before include "Contaminated with disease-causing bacteria" , "Of wound, infected with pus" , "Infected with bacteria" , "Poisonous" , "Relating to putrefaction" .)