American icon man clues badly (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
uncle sam
'american icon' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'man clues badly' is the wordplay.
'badly' is an anagram indicator.
'man'+'clues'='manclues'
'manclues' with letters rearranged gives 'UNCLE SAM'.
(Other definitions for uncle sam that I've seen before include "The United States" , "Cotton on" , "Clue's man? (anag)" , "America as a recruiting officer" , "US government personified" .)