Great leader bitter, cross with Queen (9)
I believe the answer is:
alexander
'great leader' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'bitter cross with queen' is the wordplay.
'bitter cross' becomes 'alex' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'with' becomes 'and' (I've seen this before).
'queen' becomes 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina).
'alex'+'and'+'er'='ALEXANDER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alexander that I've seen before include "The Great Man" , "Sandy" , "Great king; --- Pope, poet" , "noted for technique" , "Great king of ancient Macedonia" .)