Determined to dispose of dotty Den, deservedly! (7)
I believe the answer is:
merited
'determined' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for merited that I've seen before include "appropriate" , "Was worthy" , "Deresved" , "Properly earned or deserved" .)