Crossword Genius

Certainly no inflatable in difficulty (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hardship

'difficulty' is the definition.
(hardship is a kind of difficulty)

'certainly no inflatable in' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'in' could be 'hip' (both can mean fashionable) and 'hip' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'hards' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for hardship that I've seen before include "Difficult circumstances" , "State of misfortune or affliction" , "Privation difficult to endure" , "Need" , "Adversity, misfortune" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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