Crossword Genius

A good man always coming first (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

prior

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'first' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'a good man always' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'man' could be 'r' (abbreviation for rook, a chess piece or 'man') and 'r' is found within the answer.
'good' could be 'pi' (old-fashioned term for pious) and 'pi' is present in the remaining letters.
The remaining letters 'or' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'coming' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for prior that I've seen before include "Abbott's deputy being earlier?" , "Existing beforehand" , "Antecedent" , "writer of epigrammatic verse" , "Existing earlier" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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