Promise a condition of extreme hardship (6)
I believe the answer is:
plight
I believe this clue is a triple definition!
'promise' is the first definition.
(I know that plight has the is a more specific form of the action promise)
'a condition' is the second definition.
(plight is a kind of condition)
'of' acts as a link.
'extreme hardship' is the third definition.
'plight' can be an answer for 'hardship' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'extreme' bit.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for plight that I've seen before include "Unfortunate position" , "Serious predicament" , "Alarming predicament" , "Jam" , "pickle" .)