Hitherto the aim of boys telephoning girls (2,4)
I believe the answer is:
to date
'hitherto' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'the aim of boys telephoning girls' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'date' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for to date that I've seen before include "up to the present day" , "Up until today" , "Amorous American's aim," , "Up to the present time (2.4)" , "Up to this time - check calendar" .)