Newton and Drake, sadly, were annoying (6)
I believe the answer is:
narked
'were annoying' is the definition.
'newton and drake sadly' is the wordplay.
'newton' becomes 'n' ('N' can be a synonym of 'newton').
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'sadly' indicates an anagram.
'drake' with letters rearranged gives 'arked'.
'n'+'arked'='NARKED'
(Other definitions for narked that I've seen before include "Angry" , "Nettled" , "'Vexed, riled (6)'" , "Annoyed - upset - irritated" , "Cross" .)