Wicked criminal dined with pals abandoning area (8)
I believe the answer is:
splendid
'wicked' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'criminal dined with pals abandoning area' is the wordplay.
'criminal' is an anagram indicator.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'abandoning' suggests deleting specific letters.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'dined'+'pals'='dinedpals'
'dinedpals' with 'a' removed is 'dinedpls'.
'dinedpls' with letters rearranged gives 'SPLENDID'.
(Other definitions for splendid that I've seen before include "Excellent, magnificent" , "Grand" , "Magnificent, brilliant" , "Wicked" , "Excellent, first-class" .)