In his clever, attractive way, an artist is a good man (6)
I believe the answer is:
curate
'in his clever' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'attractive way an artist is a good man' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'way' could be 'r' (abbreviation for right) and 'r' is found in the answer.
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is found within the answer.
'attractive' could be 'cute' (similar in meaning) and 'cute' is present in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for curate that I've seen before include "one coming between vicar and his flock" , "Member of the clergy" , "He didn't really want an egg" , "A truce for the church minister" , "assistant rector" .)