Harshly cut odd characters out of medley (8)
I believe the answer is:
severely
'harshly' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cut odd characters out of medley' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'cut' could be 'sever' (to sever is to cut or split) and 'sever' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ely' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for severely that I've seen before include "very badly" , "in a very plain style" , "Harshly, gravely" , "Sternly or gravely" , "With sternness" .)