Journalist on paper tried (7)
I believe the answer is:
essayed
'tried' is the definition.
(to essay something is to attempt it)
'journalist on paper' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'journalist' could be 'ed' (short for editor) and 'ed' is located in the answer.
'paper' could be 'essay' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'essay' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for essayed that I've seen before include "Attempted, tried" , "Had a go" , "Tried (E, not A)" , "Made formal attempt" , "Attempted, strove" .)