Male lacking finesse becomes cruel (9)

I believe the answer is:

heartless

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'cruel' is the definition.
('heartless' can be similar in meaning to 'cruel')

'male lacking finesse' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'he'.
'lacking finesse' becomes 'artless' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'he'+'artless'='HEARTLESS'

'becomes' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for heartless that I've seen before include "That's very cruel" , "Completely lacking in feeling" , "hard?" , "Cold-blooded" , "Lacking feeling through cardiac deficiency" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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