Gratuitous pointers and direction (8)
I believe the answer is:
needless
'gratuitous' is the definition.
(gratuitous can mean needless or uncalled for)
'pointers and direction' is the wordplay.
'pointers' becomes 'needles' (needle is a kind of pointer).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'direction' becomes 's' (S is an example).
'needles'+'s'='NEEDLESS'
(Other definitions for needless that I've seen before include "Without reason" , "Unwanted" , "- - to say" , "Uncalled-for" , "Otiose" .)