Roman poet's defect, ignoring primary dictatorial philosophy? (7,3)
I believe the answer is:
martial law
'roman' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.
'poet's defect ignoring primary dictatorial philosophy?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'philosophy?' could be 'law' (law is a kind of philosophy) and 'law' is present in the answer.
'poet' could be 'martial' (I've seen this before) and 'martial' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for martial law that I've seen before include "Emergency powers" , "way to rule" .)