King Edmund like King Alfred? (7)
I believe the answer is:
learned
'like king alfred?' is the definition.
(King Alfred was a learned man)
'king edmund' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'lear' (King Lear).
'edmund' becomes 'ned' (Ned can be short for Edmund).
'lear'+'ned'='LEARNED'
(Other definitions for learned that I've seen before include "Studied" , "Absorbed information about Leander" , "Knowledgeable - scholarly" , "Full of knowledge" , "Erudite, knowledgeable" .)