Older papers written up about inadequate sp___ (7)
I believe the answer is:
maturer
'older' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'papers written up about inadequate sp' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'about' could be 're' ('re' means regarding or about) and 're' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for maturer that I've seen before include "It's more sensible" , "Older and wiser" , "More grown up" , "More ripe" , "It's probably wiser" .)