Spanish hero cut up about rival finally heading north (2,3)
I believe the answer is:
el cid
'spanish hero' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cut up about rival finally heading north' is the wordplay.
'cut up' becomes 'dice' (dicing is a kind of cutting. I am not sure about the 'up' bit.**).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'finally' says to take the final letters.
'heading north' says the letters should be written backwards.
The last letter of 'rival' is 'l'.
'dice' placed around 'l' is 'dicle'.
'dicle' back-to-front is 'EL CID'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for el cid that I've seen before include "Role of Charlton" , "Historic fighter" , "C11 Spanish warrior hero" , "Eleventh Century Spanish hero" , "Ruy Diaz starts" .)