Cruel Indiana male in shade (8)
I believe the answer is:
inhumane
'cruel' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'indiana male in shade' is the wordplay.
'indiana' becomes 'in' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'male' becomes 'man' (man is a kind of male).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'shade' becomes 'hue' (I've seen this before).
'man' put within 'hue' is 'humane'.
'in'+'humane'='INHUMANE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for inhumane that I've seen before include "Cruel" , "Heartless" , "Callous" , "Not compassionate" .)