Admits criminal is at the centre of things (6)
I believe the answer is:
amidst
'at the centre of things' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'admits criminal' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates an anagram.
'admits' with letters rearranged gives 'AMIDST'.
'is' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for amidst that I've seen before include "Embraced by" , "Admits (anag.)" , "In the centre of" , "Central" , "It's mad (anag.)" .)