Tried to make potted meat - nothing less (9)
I believe the answer is:
attempted
'tried' is the definition.
('attempt' can be a synonym of 'try')
'make potted meat nothing less' is the wordplay.
'make' is an anagram indicator.
'nothing' becomes 'O' (looks like zero - 0).
'less' suggests deleting specific letters (less can mean minus).
'potted'+'meat'='pottedmeat'
'pottedmeat' with 'o' taken away is 'pttedmeat'.
'pttedmeat' is an anagram of 'ATTEMPTED'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for attempted that I've seen before include "Tried" , "Made an effort to accomplish something" , "Endeavoured" .)