Cushion a large rise, ignoring first time (9)
I believe the answer is:
alleviate
'cushion' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a large rise ignoring first time' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'large' could be 'l' (eg in clothes sizes) and 'l' is found within the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is present in the answer.
'time' could be 't' (abbreviation) and 't' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alleviate that I've seen before include "Make (pain) less intense" , "To mollify" , "Make less severe, say suffering" , "Soothe" , "Make (suffering etc) easier to bear" .)