Crossword Genius

Hurt as much as possible in unpleasant style (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

painfully

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'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.

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I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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