Obsequious sergeant major and his area of influence (6)
I believe the answer is:
smarmy
'obsequious' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sergeant major and his area of influence' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'area' could be 'a' (maths abbreviation) and 'a' is located in the answer.
'sergeant major' could be 'sm' (abbreviation for sergeant major) and 'sm' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for smarmy that I've seen before include "Fawning" , "Conceal oneself" , "Obsequious" , "Excessively flattering (R, not L)" , "Unctuous" .)