Significant political party face Republican expert (12)

I believe the answer is:

considerable

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'significant' is the definition.
('considerable' can be similar in meaning to 'significant')

'political party face republican expert' is the wordplay.
'political party face republican' becomes 'consider' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'expert' becomes 'able' (I've seen this in other clues).
'consider'+'able'='CONSIDERABLE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for considerable that I've seen before include "Notably large" , "Tidy" , "A lot (of) - worthy of respect" , "worth entertaining?" , "of some importance" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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