To ring a departmental head with promises of money is not nice (6)

I believe the answer is:

odious

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'money is not nice' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'to ring a departmental head with promises' is the wordplay.
'to ring' becomes 'O' (letter resembling a ring).
'head' says to take the initial letters.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'promises' becomes 'IOUs' (promises to pay a debt).
The initial letter of 'departmental' is 'd'.
'o'+'d'+'ious'='ODIOUS'

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for odious that I've seen before include "Hateful, generally despised" , "Loathsome and repulsive" , "Disagreeable" , "Hateful and disgusting" , "Hateful, really nasty" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.