Topical bulletin barely finished (5)
I believe the answer is:
newsy
'topical' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'bulletin barely finished' is the wordplay.
'bulletin' becomes 'news bulletin' (news bulletin is a kind of bulletin).
'barely finished' becomes 'y' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'news'+'y'='NEWSY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for newsy that I've seen before include "Full of intelligence" , "Full of up-to-date information" , "Full of gossip" , "Gossipy" , "like gossip column?" .)