Man's clue involved American figure (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
uncle sam
'figure' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'man's clue involved american' is the wordplay.
'involved' is an anagram indicator (involved can mean confusing or complex).
'american' becomes 'Am' (abbreviation in some contexts).
'ns'+'clue'='nsclue'
'nsclue' is an anagram of 'uncles'.
'uncles'+'am'='UNCLE SAM'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for uncle sam that I've seen before include "Clue's man? (anag)" , "America personified" , "national representative, initially appropriate" , "US government personified" , "Embodiment of the USA" .)