They say Conrad sent her into the very middle (9)

I believe the answer is:

concentre

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'they say conrad sent her' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adverb but the answer is not.

'into the very middle' is the wordplay.
'into' becomes 'concent' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'the very' becomes 'tres' ('very' in French).
'middle' indicates the central letters.
The central letters of 'tres' are 're'.
'concent'+'re'='CONCENTRE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for concentre that I've seen is " cluster".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.