Endless alarm – why adherent suffers, making progress with difficulty (5,3,4,3)

I believe the answer is:

learn the hard way

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'progress with difficulty' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'endless alarm why adherent suffers' is the wordplay.
'endless' means to remove the last letter.
'suffers' is an anagram indicator.
'alarm' with its last letter taken off is 'alar'.
'alar'+'why'+'adherent'='alarwhyadherent'
'alarwhyadherent' is an anagram of 'LEARN THE HARD WAY'.

'making' is the link.

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I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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