Sickly-looking friend needs some cover (6)
I believe the answer is:
pallid
'sickly' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'looking friend needs some cover' is the wordplay.
'looking friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend. I am not sure about the 'looking' bit.).
'needs' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'some cover' becomes 'lid' (lid is a kind of cover).
'pal'+'lid'='PALLID'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pallid that I've seen before include "Without healthy colour" , "Anaemic" , "Insipid; lacking colour" , "Pale and wan (6)" , "Sickly pale" .)