Hurt as much as possible in unpleasant style (9)
I believe the answer is:
painfully
'possible in unpleasant style' is the definition.
The definition and answer are not the same part of speech.
'hurt as much' is the wordplay.
'hurt' becomes 'pain' (paining is a kind of hurting).
'as much' becomes 'fully' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pain'+'fully'='PAINFULLY'
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution?
Install my app