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9 down
7 6
a lesser eminence not entirely describing perfect maverick in poet
I have 4th space as an A in the first word

Hilaire belloc
Hilloc(k) (eminence not entirely)
(surrounding) A1 rebel (perfect maverick)

I've got 1ac etc, but can't parse the first part of it at all, any tips?

1a I am totally at a loss. is it an anagram?

It's not an anagram. If you look at the first part up to the ?, it describes, literally, the answer in the grid. You need to look at the letters rather than the words.

1a is a form of a Churchill description of Russia. I got it from the crossers. The clue was too clever for its own good as I can make no sense of it even with the solution.

Thank you Peterm and Davidw. I gave my brain a little rest, so back to the coal face for me!

If you get the explanation Leapy, do please share it. Even with Peterm's hint I can see little connection between the clue and the solution. (I noticed that the letters between an and um are an anagram of Tacfarinas but that does not seem to help.)

I'm sorry if I didn't explain it very well, but it's difficult without giving the game away completely. You need to look at the first part of the clue, up to the ?, and ignore punctuation and spacing. You will see an indefinite article followed by a 4-letter word that is a synonymous with the first 6-letter word of the answer. This word is enveloped by an indefinite article followed by a 7-letter word which is synonymous with last 6-letter word of the answer.The second synonym is pretty obscure (at least, it is to me). The answer in the grid describes, literally, how the first part of the clue is constructed. I hope that helps but I agree that the whole thing is over-elaborate.

Thank you Peterm. Got it now, although with no pleasure. I'll keep this clue as an illustration of "look at me" wordplay which does not lead towards the solution but is a retrospective comment on it.