Old city bloke who's polite but desperate! (6)
I believe the answer is:
urgent
'desperate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'old city bloke' is the wordplay.
'old city' becomes 'ur' (ancient city state).
'bloke' becomes 'gent' (both can mean a man).
'ur'+'gent'='URGENT'
'who's polite but' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for urgent that I've seen before include "Requiring early action" , "Needing immediate attention, don't delay" , "High priority" , "demanding speedy action" , "Pressing, imperative" .)