Deceive, only to comfort or encourage (7)
I believe the answer is:
console
'encourage' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'deceive only' is the wordplay.
'deceive' becomes 'con' (I've seen this before).
'only' becomes 'sole' (synonyms).
'con'+'sole'='CONSOLE'
'to comfort or' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for console that I've seen before include "Comfort - control panel" , "Comfort - control unit" , "Give comfort to (someone) for a loss" , "stops may be arranged here" , "Give solace to" .)