In the shy manner a chap unhelpfully shows (7)
I believe the answer is:
timidly
'in' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs. Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'shy manner a chap unhelpfully shows' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'shy' could be 'timid' (synonyms) and 'timid' is present in the answer.
'chap' could be 'ly' and 'ly' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for timidly that I've seen before include "'Bashfully, shyly (7)'" , "Without much confidence" , "without courage" , "Fearfully" , "In faint-hearted manner" .)