Crossword Genius

I trade extremely lucratively — in theory (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ideally

'in theory' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'i trade extremely lucratively' is the wordplay.
'trade' becomes 'deal' ('deal' can be a synonym of 'trade').
'extremely' means to remove the middle letters.
'lucratively' with its centre removed is 'ly'.
'i'+'deal'+'ly'='IDEALLY'

(Other definitions for ideally that I've seen before include "In the most perfect way" , "Lay idle (anag)" , "In a perfect world, the best possible situation" , "In the best of all possible worlds" , "In the best possible way or circumstances" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app