Called backward lady 'heartlessly ill-tempered' (6)
I believe the answer is:
gnarly
'ill-tempered' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'called backward lady heartlessly' is the wordplay.
'called' becomes 'rang' ('ring' can be a synonym of 'call').
'backward' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'heartlessly' means to remove the middle letters.
'lady' with its centre taken out is 'ly'.
'rang' in reverse letter order is 'gnar'.
'gnar'+'ly'='GNARLY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gnarly that I've seen before include "Knotted" , "presenting a challenge?" , "Bad-tempered" , "(Of a tree) covered with knots" , "Knotty (wood)" .)