French leader in cap, pained by loss (6)
I believe the answer is:
bereft
'pained by loss' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs sometimes mean the same thing.
'french leader in cap' is the wordplay.
'leader' indicates taking the first letters.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'cap' becomes 'beret' (beret is a kind of cap).
The first letter of 'french' is 'f'.
'f' placed into 'beret' is 'BEREFT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bereft that I've seen before include "Deprived, perhaps of reason (6)" , "Having a deep sense of loss" , "Having had something precious taken away" , "Sad through loss or deprivation" , "Pained by the loss of someone" .)