James I was a gutless cheat, wrongly characterised by grandeur (8)
I believe the answer is:
majestic
'i was a gutless cheat wrongly characterised by grandeur' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'james' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'james' is 'majes' which is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'tic' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for majestic that I've seen before include "August" , "Of royal appearance or status" , "Regal, imperial" , "Stately, dignified or grand" , "Impressively beautiful" .)