Sinful heartless place is abandoned in a poor state (5-3)
I believe the answer is:
badly-off
'a poor state' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'sinful heartless place is abandoned' is the wordplay.
'sinful' becomes 'bad' (I've seen this in another clue).
'heartless' suggests removing the centre.
'place' becomes 'lay' (synonyms).
'is abandoned' becomes 'off' (I've seen this in other clues).
'lay' with its middle taken out is 'ly'.
'bad'+'ly'+'off'='BADLY-OFF'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for badly-off that I've seen before include "In dire straits financially" , "Poverty-stricken" , "Poorly financed" , "At a disadvantage" , "Poor" .)