Our loveless little man is critical (6)
I believe the answer is:
urgent
'critical' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'our loveless little man' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'man' could be 'gent' (gent is a kind of man) and 'gent' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ur' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for urgent that I've seen before include "Earnest, insistent" , "Requiring immediate attention" , "Pressing, compelling" , "To be done asap" , "Requiring speedy action" .)