Dire straits engulfing one ironic writer (8)
I believe the answer is:
satirist
'ironic writer' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'dire straits engulfing one' is the wordplay.
'dire' indicates anagramming the letters.
'engulfing' indicates putting letters inside.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'straits' with letters rearranged gives 'satirst'.
'satirst' going around 'i' is 'SATIRIST'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for satirist that I've seen before include "Pope, say" , "One who uses ridicule or irony in writings" , "He sends up" , "as Hogarth was" , "Biting comic" .)