Prying thus back in New York (4)
I believe the answer is:
nosy
'prying' is the definition.
(I know that prying can be written as nosy)
'thus back in new york' is the wordplay.
'thus' becomes 'so' (synonyms).
'back' is a reversal indicator.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'new york' becomes 'ny'.
'so' back-to-front is 'os'.
'os' inserted within 'ny' is 'NOSY'.
(Other definitions for nosy that I've seen before include "Inquisitive in nasal manner" , "Fragrant" , "Intrusive in nasal way" , "Over-inquisitive" , "Showing too much curiosity about people's affairs" .)