Duke with debts hiding note wasn't confident (8)
I believe the answer is:
dithered
'wasn't confident' is the definition.
The definition suggests a past participle verb which matches the answer.
'duke with debts hiding note' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'duke' could be 'd' (abbreviation) and 'd' is present in the answer.
'note' could be 're' (as in do-re-mi) and 're' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dithered that I've seen before include "Vacillated, was indecisive" , "Was undecided" , "Was hesitant" , "Hesitated" , "Vacillated indecisively" .)