Incline in good time to exclude America, showing concern (8)
I believe the answer is:
tenderly
'showing concern' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adverbs. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'incline in good time to exclude america' is the wordplay.
'incline' becomes 'tend' (synonyms).
'in good time' becomes 'early' (being early is arriving in good time).
'to exclude' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'america' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation eg in USA).
'early' with 'a' taken away is 'erly'.
'tend'+'erly'='TENDERLY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tenderly that I've seen before include "In gentle and fond manner" , "in caring way" , "With loving gentleness" , "Gently, sympathetically" , "Sensitively" .)
