No royalist drinks to chief (9)
I believe the answer is:
roundhead
'no royalist' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'drinks to chief' is the wordplay.
'drinks' becomes 'round' (as in a round of drinks).
'to chief' becomes 'head' (synonyms).
'round'+'head'='ROUNDHEAD'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for roundhead that I've seen before include "Supporter of Parliament during the English Civil Wars" , "Old soldier" , "Cavalier's foe" , "antimonarchist" , "Parliamentarian (hist.)" .)