Stout caring heart needed in unpleasant surroundings (6)

I believe the answer is:

virile

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'stout' is the definition.
(virile can mean stout or strong)

'caring heart needed in unpleasant surroundings' is the wordplay.
'caring' becomes 'loving' (similar in meaning).
'heart' means to look at the middle letters.
'needed in unpleasant surroundings' becomes 'rile' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The middle letters of 'loving' are 'vi'.
'vi'+'rile'='VIRILE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for virile that I've seen before include "Robustly masculine" , "Manly, strong" , "Potent" , "Having energy" , "Masculine and macho" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.