Bent and crippled person taken in with mercy (10)
I believe the answer is:
propensity
'bent' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'crippled person taken in with mercy' is the wordplay.
'crippled' is an anagram indicator.
'taken in' is an insertion indicator.
'with mercy' becomes 'pity' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'person' anagrammed gives 'ropens'.
'ropens' placed into 'pity' is 'PROPENSITY'.
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for propensity that I've seen before include "Bent" , "Inclination; tendency" .)