Bring a girl up to be a credit to you (5)
I believe the answer is:
asset
'be a credit to you' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'bring a girl up' is the wordplay.
'bring' becomes 'a' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'a girl' becomes 'tess' (girl's name).
'up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'tess' backwards is 'sset'.
'a'+'sset'='ASSET'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for asset that I've seen before include "Tessa (anag)" , "Something that's worth having" , "Item of property" , "Advantage, strength" , "Anything considered valuable" .)