Clue: Dreary pedant – one confined to study's working after small dram (9)
Answer: DRYASDUST
Explanation: Definition: Dreary pedant
DR[am] + A in STUDYS* – Dryasdust is "an imaginary and tediously thorough literary authority cited by Sir Walter Scott" (not, as I guessed, from *Pilgrim's Progress* or Dickens or some such)