Was CEO horribly sour and spiteful? (9)
I believe the answer is:
rancorous
'spiteful?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'was ceo horribly sour and' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'sour' is 'rous' which is located in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rancorous that I've seen before include "Showing bitter resentment" , "Acrimonious" , "Resentful, bitter" , "spiteful?" .)