Braveheart leader in advance (5)
I believe the answer is:
ahead
'in advance' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'braveheart leader' is the wordplay.
'braveheart' becomes 'a' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'leader' becomes 'head' (head is a kind of leader).
'a'+'head'='AHEAD'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ahead that I've seen before include "in van" , "What's down the road" , "at pole" , "In the future" , "Winning" .)