Entire crew needed, or staff in total one short? (10)
I believe the answer is:
complement
'entire crew' is the definition.
'complement' can be an answer for 'crew' (thesaurus). I am not certain of the 'entire' bit.
'or staff in total one short?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'staff' could be 'men' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'men' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'needed' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for complement that I've seen before include "This number on board" , "Companion" , "all who work on board" , "Contingent" , "ship's crew" .)