Opponents speak over first writer (8)
I believe the answer is:
essayist
'writer' is the definition.
(I know that essayist is a type of writer)
'opponents speak over first' is the wordplay.
'opponents' becomes 'es' (I've seen this in other clues).
'speak over' becomes 'say' (I've seen this in another clue. I am not sure about the 'over' bit.).
'first' becomes 'ist' (ist resembles sst).
'es'+'say'+'ist'='ESSAYIST'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for essayist that I've seen before include "kind of writer" , "Writer of shorter pieces" , "I write" , "Lamb, for example" , "Lamb, perhaps" .)