Beaten in study by a boy! (6)
I believe the answer is:
dented
'beaten in' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'study by a boy' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'den' (term for a study or office).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a boy' becomes 'ted' (short for Edward or Theodore).
'den'+'ted'='DENTED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dented that I've seen before include "made an impression" , "Made small depression in metal surface" , "Tended to be depresed" , "Dinged" , "Bashed in" .)