Honesty: nice first of all, with less pain involved (9)
I believe the answer is:
plainness
'honesty' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'nice first of all with less pain involved' is the wordplay.
'first of all' indicates taking the first letters.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'involved' is an anagram indicator (involved can mean confusing or complex).
The initial letter of 'nice' is 'n'.
'n'+'less'+'pain'='nlesspain'
'nlesspain' anagrammed gives 'PLAINNESS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for plainness that I've seen is " Homely appearance".)