Try hard to raise the abode of the blessed almost (5)
I believe the answer is:
heave
'try hard to raise' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'abode of the blessed almost' is the wordplay.
'abode of the blessed' becomes 'heaven' (I've seen this before).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'heaven' with its last letter taken away is 'HEAVE'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for heave that I've seen before include "Pull something heavy" , "gag" , "Tug-of-war cry" , "Big effort" , "Haul - retch" .)