Boy's characteristic in oddly ropy work (8,2,1,4)
I believe the answer is:
portrait of a lady
'oddly ropy work' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'boy's characteristic' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'characteristic' could be 'rai' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'rai' is found within the answer.
'boy' could be 'port' and 'port' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for portrait of a lady that I've seen before include "picture of 18 ac [PEERESS]" , "Novel" .)