Nothing but cries of pain? That's sanctions (6)
I believe the answer is:
allows
'sanctions' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'nothing but cries of pain?' is the wordplay.
'nothing but' becomes 'all' (I've seen this in other clues).
'cries of pain?' becomes 'ows' (I've seen this in other clues).
'all'+'ows'='ALLOWS'
'that's' is the link.
(Other definitions for allows that I've seen before include "Gives permission" , "Grants leave" , "Tolerates" , "Permits, lets" , "Permits or agrees" .)