Playwright with point about river and wasteland (10)
I believe the answer is:
wilderness
'wasteland' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'playwright with point about river' is the wordplay.
'playwright' becomes 'wildness' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'with' is an insertion indicator.
'point' becomes 'E' (compass point).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for river).
'wildness' going around 'e' is 'wildeness'.
'wildeness' enclosing 'r' is 'WILDERNESS'.
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wilderness that I've seen before include "for a time unrecognised" , "Inhospitable region" .)