Literary villain, one requesting a lift across northern suspension bridge, heading for trouble (7,7)
I believe the answer is:
humbert humbert
'literary villain' is the definition.
(villain in Lolita)
'northern suspension bridge heading for trouble' is the wordplay.
'northern suspension' becomes 'humbert' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bridge' becomes 'humber' (Humber Bridge is an example).
'heading for' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'trouble' is 't'.
'humbert'+'humber'+'t'='HUMBERT HUMBERT'
'one requesting a lift across' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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