Awful car pinched by Nazi (8)
I believe the answer is:
hopeless
'awful' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'car pinched by nazi' is the wordplay.
'car' becomes 'opel' (I've seen this before).
'pinched by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get pinched or taken).
'nazi' becomes 'hess' (I've seen this before).
'opel' put inside 'hess' is 'HOPELESS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hopeless that I've seen before include "Desperate" , "With no chance of success" , "incurable" , "Despairing, pessimistic" , "Inefficient" .)