Very well, dish out punishment covered by brief (2,4,4)
I believe the answer is:
in fine form
'very well' is the definition.
(both can mean very healthy)
'dish out punishment covered by brief' is the wordplay.
'dish out punishment' becomes 'fine' (to fine someone is to give them a punishment).
'covered by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'brief' becomes 'inform' (I've seen this before).
'fine' put into 'inform' is 'IN FINE FORM'.
(Another definition for in fine form that I've seen is " Performing really well".)
I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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