Welfare state protecting female poet? Not half! (6)
I believe the answer is:
safety
'welfare' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'state protecting female poet? not half' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'state' could be 'sa' (South Australia) and 'sa' is located in the answer.
'female' could be 'f' (abbreviation) and 'f' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for safety that I've seen before include "condition of 18 [AIRWORTHINESS]" , "Refuge" , "The condition of being protected from danger" , "Type of match or valve" , "Motto of the cautious!" .)