Nasty character putting oar in about love (8)
I believe the answer is:
scullion
'nasty character' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'oar in about love' is the wordplay.
'oar' becomes 'scull' (scull is a kind of oar).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'in' placed around 'o' is 'ion'.
'scull'+'ion'='SCULLION'
'putting' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scullion that I've seen before include "Lowly kitchen worker" , "Of old, the servant assigned the most menial kitchen tasks" , "Kitchen servant - contemptible person" , "Mean or despicable person" .)