Like woman raising issue or unusually alert man (8)

I believe the answer is:

maternal

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

'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" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph and The Times.

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