He has a telling way of being bad (4)
I believe the answer is:
liar
'he' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'a telling way of being bad' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'way' could be 'r' (abbreviation for right) and 'r' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'li' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'has' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for liar that I've seen before include "One not telling the truth" , "One whose pants are on fire?" , "Story teller?" , "Bearer of false witness" , "Teller of fibs" .)