Sorry to separate father and daughter in California (3)
I believe the answer is:
sad
'sorry' is the definition.
(I know that sorry can be written as sad)
'separate father and daughter in california' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'daughter' could be 'd' (genealogical abbreviation) and 'd' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'sa' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sad that I've seen before include "Mournful and depressed" , "Tragic" , "Downcast" , "Morose" , "Melancholy, depressed" .)