Conservative deception takes in old man, washed up (6)
I believe the answer is:
crusoe
'man washed up' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'conservative deception takes in old' is the wordplay.
'conservative' becomes 'C' (UK political abbreviation).
'deception' becomes 'ruse' (I've seen this before).
'takes in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'ruse' enclosing 'o' is 'rusoe'.
'c'+'rusoe'='CRUSOE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for crusoe that I've seen before include "Robinson . . . . . . literary castaway" , "Lonely islander" , "See 9" , "Daniel Defoe wrote ''Robinson . . . . . .''" , "5 down [CASTAWAY]" .)