Like the tough guy who almost came up to the house (5)
I believe the answer is:
macho
'like the tough guy' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'almost came up to the house' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'to the house' becomes 'ho' (abbreviation for house).
'came' with its last letter removed is 'cam'.
'cam' back-to-front is 'mac'.
'mac'+'ho'='MACHO'
'who' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for macho that I've seen before include "Showily virile" , "Affectedly virile" , "Ramboesque" , "Aggressively masculine" , "Blokeish" .)