Writer could be boring study (6)
I believe the answer is:
dryden
'writer' is the definition.
(I know this)
'boring study' is the wordplay.
'boring' becomes 'dry' (dry can mean dull or boring).
'study' becomes 'den' (term for a study or office).
'dry'+'den'='DRYDEN'
'could be' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for dryden that I've seen before include "John --, first Poet Laureate" , "Mac Flecknoe was his" , "John -, English seventeenth century poet, dramatist" , "English poet, d. 1700" , "Dry Ned, the strange English poet" .)