How the heats are contested? (5)
I believe the answer is:
hotly
'how' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adverbs. Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'the heats are contested?' 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.
The remaining letters 'holy' 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 hotly that I've seen before include "disputed thus?" , "showing passion" , "showing eagerness" , "Heatedly" , "in an ardent manner" .)