A better man than I am, nudging cryptically about 1st April (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
gunga din
'a better man than i am' is the definition.
(reference to Rudyard Kipling poem Gunga Din)
'nudging cryptically about 1st april' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'nudging' is 'gungdin' which is present in the left over letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for gunga din that I've seen before include "Kipling character" , "Kipling hero" , "water carrier" , "You're a better man than I am, - - ! (Kipling)" , "Poem by Kipling" .)