Senior man joining up after wife departs (5)
I believe the answer is:
elder
'senior' is the definition.
(I know that senior can be written as elder)
'man joining up after wife departs' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'man' could be 'der' and 'der' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'el' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for elder that I've seen before include "more mature" , "Senior member - plant" , "First-born" , "Woody shrub - used for wine, tea or cordial" , "Senior churchperson" .)