Asked in, the man did unbend (6)
I believe the answer is:
bidden
'asked' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'man did unbend' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'man' could be 'den' and 'den' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'bid' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bidden that I've seen before include "Commanded (to do something)" , "Ordered (to)" , "Asked" .)