Artist turns up on Mediterranean equipped (5)
I believe the answer is:
armed
'equipped' is the definition.
('armed' can be similar in meaning to 'equipped')
'artist turns up on mediterranean' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'turns up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'mediterranean' becomes 'med' (I've seen this in other clues).
'ra' in reverse letter order is 'ar'.
'ar'+'med'='ARMED'
(Other definitions for armed that I've seen before include "unlike the Venus of Milo" , "Being equipped with 25 Across" , "Gave weapon" , "Provided with weapons" , "Equipped with weapons" .)