Cruel perversion of son stopping legendary king's return (6)
I believe the answer is:
sadism
'cruel perversion' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'son stopping legendary king's return' is the wordplay.
'son' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation for son).
'stopping' indicates putting letters inside (stopping can mean blocking a gap).
'legendary king' becomes 'midas' (I've seen this before).
'return' says the letters should be written backwards.
's' going into 'midas' is 'msidas'.
'msidas' back-to-front is 'SADISM'.
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sadism that I've seen before include "Delight taken in cruelty" , "Pleasure obtained by inflicting pain on others" , "The love of cruelty" , "The taking of pleasure in the infliction of pain" , "Pleasure obtained by inflicting harm" .)