Upsetting newspaper in habitual response that's automatic (6)
I believe the answer is:
tragic
'upsetting' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'newspaper in habitual response that's automatic' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'newspaper' could be 'rag' (informal term for a newspaper) and 'rag' is found in the answer.
'response' could be 'tic' (I have seen 'Involuntary response ' mean 'tic' so perhaps 'response' could also mean 'tic') and 'tic' is located in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tragic that I've seen before include "Pathetic" , "Pitiable" , "Extremely sad and distressing" , "Calamitous, causing great sadness" , "Ill-fated" .)