Nurturing friend with an LR puzzle (8)
I believe the answer is:
maternal
'nurturing' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'friend with an lr puzzle' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'puzzle' is an anagram indicator.
'an'+'lr'='anlr'
'anlr' anagrammed gives 'rnal'.
'mate'+'rnal'='MATERNAL'
(Other definitions for maternal that I've seen before include "Motherly" , "On the mother's side" , "Of a mother or motherhood" , "Protective" .)