Frightening pictures put up for all to see, one originally concealed under carpet (9)
I believe the answer is:
traumatic
'frightening' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'pictures put up for all to see one originally concealed under carpet' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'see' could be 'c' (the word for the letter, according to Chambers) and 'c' is present in the answer.
'one' could be 'i' (Roman numeral) and 'i' is present in the answer.
'carpet' could be 'mat' (a mat is a floor covering) and 'mat' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for traumatic that I've seen before include "Direly shocking" , "Deeply distressing" , "Deeply disturbing" , "Psychologically painful" , "Psychologically damaging" .)