Low quality T (5-4)
I believe the answer is:
third-rate
'low quality t' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'low quality' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'quality' could be 'rate' (I've seen this before) and 'rate' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'third' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for third-rate that I've seen before include "Very inferior in numerical way" , "Very inferior in quality - count down" , "Very inderior in quality - do a count" , "Very inferior in quality, using ordinal number" , "Of very poor quality" .)