Scrawny English friend taking spies note (9)
I believe the answer is:
emaciated
'scrawny' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'english friend taking spies note' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'english' could be 'e' (abbreviation) and 'e' is located in the answer.
'spies' could be 'cia' (Central Intelligence Agency) and 'cia' is found within the answer.
'friend' could be 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend) and 'mate' is located in the remaining letters.
'note' could be 'd' (musical note) and 'd' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for emaciated that I've seen before include "of very little substance" , "wasted" , "Very thin from starvation or illness" , "undernourished" , "Gaunt from disease or hunger" .)