Like woman raising issue or unusually alert man (8)
I believe the answer is:
maternal
'like woman raising issue' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'unusually alert man' is the wordplay.
'unusually' indicates anagramming the letters.
'alert'+'man'='alertman'
'alertman' anagrammed gives 'MATERNAL'.
'or' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for maternal that I've seen before include "Protective" , "On the mother's side" , "Motherly" , "Of a mother or motherhood" .)