Worked to gain experience under malign influence? (8)
I believe the answer is:
devilled
'worked' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with creating things as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'gain experience under malign influence?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'malign' could be 'evil' ('evil' can be a synonym of 'malign') and 'evil' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for devilled that I've seen before include "Did research or other work for barrister - like Lucifer? (8)" , "Curried" , "Cooked" .)