Times cuts silly clues ahead of setter's special (9)
I believe the answer is:
exclusive
'special' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'times cuts silly clues ahead of setter's' is the wordplay.
'times' becomes 'x' (x resembles the multiplication or times sign).
'cuts' is an insertion indicator (some letters cut their way into other letters).
'silly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'ahead of' means one lot of letters go next to another (some letters go in front of others).
'setter's' becomes 'ive' ('I've', referring to the crossword setter).
'clues' anagrammed gives 'eclus'.
'x' going within 'eclus' is 'exclus'.
'exclus'+'ive'='EXCLUSIVE'
(Other definitions for exclusive that I've seen before include "Catering for only the wealthy, not obtainable elsewhere" , "Scoop" , "Select, high-class" , "choice" , "catering for a few customers" .)