Cruel male lacking guile (9)
I believe the answer is:
heartless
'cruel' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'male lacking guile' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'he' (he refers to a man).
'lacking guile' becomes 'artless' (I've seen this in another clue).
'he'+'artless'='HEARTLESS'
(Other definitions for heartless that I've seen before include "Callous" , "Scrooge was" , "Uncaring" , "Completely lacking in feeling" , "hard?" .)