Real offence a goddess curtailed (7)
I believe the answer is:
sincere
'real offence a goddess curtailed' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'real offence a goddess curtailed' is the wordplay.
'real offence' becomes 'sin' (a sin is an offence or transgression. I am not sure about the 'real' bit.).
'a goddess' becomes 'ceres' (I've seen this before).
'curtailed' means to remove the last letter.
'ceres' with its last letter taken off is 'cere'.
'sin'+'cere'='SINCERE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sincere that I've seen before include "(Of person) genuine" , "Unfeigned, genuine" , "True" , "Showing genuine feelings" , "Unaffected" .)