Made the most of work rated for progress around island (9)

'made the most' is the definition.
The definition suggests a past participle verb which matches the answer.

'work rated for progress around island' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'work' could be 'op' (abbreviation for opus) and 'op' is present in the answer.
'island' could be 'is' (geographical abbreviation) and 'is' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'timed' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?