Harsh words hurt the most when blasted without hint of tenderness (4,6)
I believe the answer is:
home truths
'most when blasted without hint of tenderness' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'harsh words hurt the' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
an anagram of 'hurt' is 'ruth' which is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'homes' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for home truths that I've seen before include "revealing facts about writer" , "harsh facts" , "Hotter mush (anag.)" , "Unpleasant facts told to person about himself" .)