Appeared to love me in a strange old way (6)
I believe the answer is:
loomed
'appeared' is the definition.
(looming is a kind of appearing)
'love me in a strange old way' is the wordplay.
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a strange old way' becomes 'lod' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'o'+'me'='ome'
'ome' going within 'lod' is 'LOOMED'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for loomed that I've seen before include "Rose threateningly ahead" , "Appeared threateningly ahead" , "Came into view indistinctly, often threateningly" , "Soared threateningly ahead" , "Rose up menacingly ahead" .)