Furnished or let, to accommodate a motherless man (4)
I believe the answer is:
lent
'furnished' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'let to accommodate a motherless man' is the wordplay.
'to accommodate' is an insertion indicator.
'a motherless man' becomes 'n' (knight, a man in chess. I am not sure about the 'motherless' bit.).
'let' placed around 'n' is 'LENT'.
'or' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lent that I've seen before include "Time of fasting" , "Advanced" , "Period of penance" , "Forty days of fasting" , "From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday" .)