Facing it in contest (8)
I believe the answer is:
opposite
'facing' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'it in contest' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'contest' becomes 'oppose' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'it' inserted within 'oppose' is 'OPPOSITE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for opposite that I've seen before include "completely different?" , "Facing on the other side" , "Directly across from" , "Face to face or directly contrary" , "Totally different; facing" .)