Whistler secured in bank that's robbed? (6)
I believe the answer is:
bereft
'robbed?' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs occasionally mean the same thing.
'whistler secured in bank' is the wordplay.
'whistler' becomes 'ref' (a referee blows a whistle).
'secured in' becomes 'bet' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bank' means one lot of letters goes inside another (outside letters create limits or banks).
'ref' put within 'bet' is 'BEREFT'.
'that's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bereft that I've seen before include "Grieving from deprivation" , "Cut off - deprived" , "Lonely and abandoned" , "Having a deep sense of loss" , "Deprived of, perhaps by death" .)