Crossword Genius

Difficult time — extremely upset (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

testing

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'difficult' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'time extremely upset' is the wordplay.
'extremely' suggests removing the centre.
'upset' becomes 'sting' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'time' with its centre taken out is 'te'.
'te'+'sting'='TESTING'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for testing that I've seen before include "of a difficult nature" , "Examining" , "... conducting exam" , "Trying out" , "Subjecting to 15 ac" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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