As champion may be avoiding corporal punishment? (8)
I believe the answer is:
unbeaten
'as champion' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'be avoiding corporal punishment?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'be' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'may' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for unbeaten that I've seen before include "Never defeated" , "there's nothing better" , "Always top" , "Victorious" , "Not defeated or vanquished" .)