Element of cunning required with female lacking information (6)
I believe the answer is:
oxygen
'element' is the definition.
(I know that oxygen is an nonmetal)
'of cunning required with female lacking information' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
'information' could be 'gen' (gen can informally mean information) and 'gen' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oxygen that I've seen before include "Element essential to combustion" , "Gas forming about 20 per cent of atmosphere" , "Gaseous element supporting combustion" , "Common gas" , "Gas (of publicity?)" .)