Hack work, first chapter (4)
I believe the answer is:
chop
'hack' is the definition.
(I know that hack can be written as chop)
'work first chapter' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'work' could be 'op' (abbreviation for opus) and 'op' is present in the answer.
'chapter' could be 'ch' and 'ch' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chop that I've seen before include "Karate blow" , "Small cut of meat" , "Piece of meat - the sack" , "Hew" , "Cutting blow" .)