Carelessly tardy without finishing after starting smoothly (8)
I believe the answer is:
slovenly
'carelessly tardy without finishing after starting smoothly' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'tardy without finishing after starting smoothly' is the wordplay.
'tardy' becomes 'slow' (I've seen this before).
'without finishing' means to remove the last letter.
'after starting' means to remove the first letter (only the letters found after the first are used).
'smoothly' becomes 'evenly' (I've seen this before).
'slow' with its last letter taken away is 'slo'.
'evenly' with its first letter removed is 'venly'.
'slo'+'venly'='SLOVENLY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for slovenly that I've seen before include "Untidy, dirty" , "Untidy, unkempt" , "messy state" , "Habitually dirty and unkempt" , "Disorganised" .)