Crazy Tea Party figure forced to accept that crooked Republican (3,6)
I believe the answer is:
mad hatter
'crazy tea party figure' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.
'forced to accept that crooked republican' is the wordplay.
'forced' becomes 'made' (both can mean coerced).
'to accept' indicates putting letters inside.
'crooked' is an anagram indicator (a crooked or disrupted version of the letters).
'republican' becomes 'R' (political abbreviation).
'that' anagrammed gives 'hatt'.
'made' enclosing 'hatt' is 'madhatte'.
'madhatte'+'r'='MAD HATTER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mad hatter that I've seen before include "Participant in the 16 in 3,8" , "Bizarre party host" , "Carroll character" , "Crazy man" , "Participant in party in Wonderland" .)