At first hungry maneater beheaded an enemy of Rome (8)
I believe the answer is:
hannibal
'enemy of rome' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'at first hungry maneater beheaded' is the wordplay.
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'first hungry' becomes 'h' (1st letter of 'hungry').
'maneater' becomes 'cannibal'.
'beheaded' means to remove the first letter (the head of the word is removed).
'cannibal' with its initial letter taken off is 'annibal'.
'h' put next to 'annibal' is 'HANNIBAL'.
'an' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hannibal that I've seen before include "Great Carthaginian general who led army over the Alps against Rome" , "Carthaginian general who crossed Alps to attack Rome" , "Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps to defeat Rome" , "Famous general who crossed the Alps with elephants and defeated the Romans" , "Carthaginian general who fought Rome" .)