The man’s simple and cruel (9)
I believe the answer is:
heartless
'cruel' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'the man's simple' is the wordplay.
'the man' becomes 'he'.
'simple' becomes 'artless' (similar in meaning).
'he'+'artless'='HEARTLESS'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for heartless that I've seen before include "Lacking pity due to cardiac deficiency" , "insensitive" , "Completely lacking in feeling" , "Uncaring" , "That's very cruel" .)