With her around, he’s more jovial (5)
I believe the answer is:
artie
'with her around he's more jovial' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'with her around he's' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'her around' becomes 'i' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'he' becomes 'Arte'.
'i' inserted inside 'arte' is 'ARTIE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for artie that I've seen before include "Man" , "-- Shaw, jazz musician" , "Shaw, perhaps?" , "Guy" , "- Shaw, US jazz clarinettist and bandleader" .)