A northern man in a bed unoccupied (9)
I believe the answer is:
abandoned
'unoccupied' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'a northern man in a bed' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' could be 'one' and 'one' is found in the answer.
'northern' could be 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland) and 'n' is found within the answer.
'man' could be 'ad' and 'ad' is located in the remaining letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abandoned that I've seen before include "Given up?" , "without any reservations at all" , "Wild" , "Unrestrained" , "Obsolete" .)