Curse as Home Office loves to host party? (6)
I believe the answer is:
hoodoo
'curse' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'home office loves to host party?' is the wordplay.
'home office' becomes 'HO' (UK government acronym).
'loves' becomes 'oo' (two O's - 'love' means zero in tennis).
'to host' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are hosted or welcomed).
'party?' becomes 'do' (do is a kind of party).
'oo' placed around 'do' is 'odoo'.
'ho'+'odoo'='HOODOO'
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for hoodoo that I've seen before include "Bad luck some people bring" , "Bringer of bad luck" , "bringer of misfortune" , "Jinx" , "Thing or person thought to bring bad luck" .)