Brilliant man with a way of putting his side ahead (6)
I believe the answer is:
edison
'his side ahead' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'brilliant man with a way of' is the wordplay.
'brilliant man' becomes 'edin' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'with' indicates putting letters inside.
'a way' becomes 's' (Compass direction - South).
'of' becomes 'o''.
's'+'o'='so'
'edin' going around 'so' is 'EDISON'.
'putting' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for edison that I've seen before include "Onside with great American inventor" , "Thomas Alva ......, great American inventor" , "He came up with microphone" , "scientist" , "US inventor of phonograph, electric light etc." .)