The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word WINKLING
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
W
I
N
K
L
I
N
G
More clues leading to the result WINKLING
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "getting out with difficulty" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case getting out with difficulty = winkling.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does WINKLING mean?
WINKLING verb- To extract.