African giant forced to protect new city (7)
I believe the answer is:
mandela
'african giant' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.
'forced to protect new city' is the wordplay.
'forced' becomes 'made' (both can mean coerced).
'to protect' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are protected or taken in).
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'city' becomes 'LA' (Los Angeles).
'made' placed around 'n' is 'mande'.
'mande'+'la'='MANDELA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mandela that I've seen before include "Former prisoner" , "Could be Nelson" , "Nelson --, South African politician" , "Nelson . . . . . . ., great African statesman (7)" , "Former president of South Africa" .)