Corporal punishment could hardly be thus missed (6)
I believe the answer is:
sorely
'corporal punishment could hardly' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'thus missed' is the wordplay.
'thus' becomes 'so' ('so' can be a synonym of 'thus').
'missed' becomes 'rely' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'so'+'rely'='SORELY'
'be' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sorely that I've seen before include "Acutely; very much" , "Extremely, severely" , "Painfully" .)