Compassionate, putting crew in shade (6)
I believe the answer is:
humane
'compassionate' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'crew in shade' is the wordplay.
'crew' becomes 'man' (I've seen this before).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'shade' becomes 'hue' (I've seen this before).
'man' placed into 'hue' is 'HUMANE'.
'putting' is the link.
(Other definitions for humane that I've seen before include "Kind and merciful" , "Merciful and considerate" , "Inflicting minimal pain" , "Kind and sympathetic" , "Kindly and compassionate" .)