Crossword Genius

Commended as foremost of paintings put up (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

praised

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'commended' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'foremost of paintings put up' is the wordplay.
'foremost of paintings' becomes 'p' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'put' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'up' becomes 'raised' ('raised' can be similar in meaning to 'up').
'p'+'raised'='PRAISED'

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for praised that I've seen before include "Despair (anag.)" , "Spoke well of" , "Lauded, extolled" , "well-received" , "Exalted" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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