Spiteful wife's like a viper? (7)
I believe the answer is:
waspish
'spiteful' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'wife's like a viper?' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'like' becomes 'as'.
'a viper?' becomes 'pish' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'w'+'as'+'pish'='WASPISH'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for waspish that I've seen before include "Easily angered - with black and yellow stripes?" , "Pshaw, is like a stinging insect" , "Sharp and irritable like stinging insect" , "Sharply irritable" , "Bad-tempered like stinging insect" .)