How one may be aware of a short route to the city (7)
I believe the answer is:
acutely
'how one may be aware' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'a short route to the city' is the wordplay.
'short route' becomes 'cut' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to the city' becomes 'ely' (I've seen this before).
'a'+'cut'+'ely'='ACUTELY'
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acutely that I've seen before include "Sharply" , "Critically" , "Extremely" , "Severely, keenly" , "with severity" .)