Problem maintaining equipment, primarily state-of-the-art (2-4)
I believe the answer is:
hi-tech
'state-of-the-art' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'problem maintaining equipment primarily' is the wordplay.
'problem' becomes 'hitch' (I've seen this before).
'maintaining' is an insertion indicator.
'primarily' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'equipment' is 'e'.
'hitch' placed around 'e' is 'HI-TECH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hi-tech that I've seen before include "Using modern construction" , "Advanced technology" , "(Using) the latest developments" , "Style of interior design using features of industrial equipment" , "Using the latest science" .)