Exhorted the rude to reform and be good hearted (5)
I believe the answer is:
urged
'exhorted' is the definition.
('urge' can be a synonym of 'exhort')
'rude to reform and be good hearted' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'good' could be 'g' (abbreviation) and 'g' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'rude' is 'ured' which is located in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for urged that I've seen before include "Exhorted or prodded" , "Incited" , "Beseeched" , "Egged on" , "Strongly advised" .)