He fails to save the western flower (6)
I believe the answer is:
waster
'he fails to save' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'western flower' is the wordplay.
'western' becomes 'w'.
'flower' becomes 'aster' (type of flower).
'w'+'aster'='WASTER'
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for waster that I've seen before include "Idler, good-for-nothing" , "Person doing nothing of value (colloq.)" , "Ne'er-do-well, profligate" , "Squanderer, profligate" , "Ne'er-do-well, spendthrift" .)