Virtuous ladies endlessly going around slums (9)
I believe the answer is:
wholesome
'virtuous' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'ladies endlessly going around slums' is the wordplay.
'ladies' becomes 'women' (I've seen this before).
'endlessly' means to remove the last letter.
'going around' indicates putting letters inside.
'slums' becomes 'holes' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'women' with its final letter taken away is 'wome'.
'wome' going around 'holes' is 'WHOLESOME'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wholesome that I've seen before include "Previously propitious" , "Respectable" , "Good for you!" , "Beneficial" , "Moral" .)