Outlying motorway cuts through ruined Exeter (7)
I believe the answer is:
extreme
'outlying' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'motorway cuts through ruined exeter' is the wordplay.
'motorway' becomes 'mi' (resembles M1, English motorway).
'cuts' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'cut' mean this).
'through' indicates putting letters inside (I've seen this in other clues).
'ruined' indicates an anagram.
'mi' with its final letter removed is 'm'.
'exeter' with letters rearranged gives 'extree'.
'm' placed into 'extree' is 'EXTREME'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for extreme that I've seen before include "Drastic -- limit" , "Very great; exceptional" , "Last" , "over the top" , "Utmost; excessive" .)