Crossword Genius

Earl wearing trousers, tailored initially to be most loose (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

slackest

'be most loose' is the definition.
('slack' can be a synonym of 'loose')

'earl wearing trousers tailored initially' is the wordplay.
'earl' becomes 'e'.
'wearing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'trousers' becomes 'slacks' (slacks is a kind of trousers**).
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'tailored' is 't'.
'e' inserted within 'slacks' is 'slackes'.
'slackes'+'t'='SLACKEST'

'to' is the link.

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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