Sam and Everyman cover up problems (8)
I believe the answer is:
dilemmas
'problems' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sam and everyman cover up' is the wordplay.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'everyman' becomes 'me' (where the crossword setter is 'Everyman').
'cover' becomes 'lid' (lid is a kind of cover).
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'sam'+'me'+'lid'='sammelid'
'sammelid' reversed gives 'DILEMMAS'.
(Other definitions for dilemmas that I've seen before include "Situations involving difficult choices" , "Problems for dismal me" , "Am misled into quandaries" , "Predicaments or quandaries" .)