Almost hoping for pain relief (7)
I believe the answer is:
aspirin
'pain relief' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'almost hoping' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'hoping' becomes 'aspiring' (I've seen this before).
'aspiring' with its last letter taken off is 'ASPIRIN'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for aspirin that I've seen before include "Mild pain-killing drug" , "Anti-inflammatory tablet" , "Sip rain (anag.)" , "Anti-inflammatory analgesic" , "headache cure" .)