It's sad when there are many misdirected mails (6)

I believe the answer is:

dismal

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'it's sad' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'many misdirected mails' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'd' ().
'misdirected' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'mails' is an anagram of 'ismal'.
'd'+'ismal'='DISMAL'

'when there are' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dismal that I've seen before include "Gloomy, bleak" , "Depressing; dreary" , "Miserable" , "down in the dumps" , "pitifully bad" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.