Decorated the first deli the wrong way (5)
I believe the answer is:
tiled
'decorated the first' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'deli the wrong way' is the wordplay.
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'wrong way' is a reversal indicator.
'deli'+'t'='delit'
'delit' in reverse letter order is 'TILED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tiled that I've seen before include "Covered eg as walls of shower area" , "with a glazed look" , "Like many roofs" , "Covered or floored with baked clay" , "Covered in ceramic slabs" .)