Congratulated, but not initially promoted (6)
I believe the answer is:
raised
'congratulated but not initially promoted' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'congratulated but not initially promoted' is the wordplay.
'congratulated' becomes 'desi' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'but' becomes 'bar' (both can mean 'excluding' or 'except').
'not initially' means to remove the first letter.
'promoted' says the letters should be written in reverse (going up, in a down clue).
'bar' with its initial letter taken away is 'ar'.
'desi'+'ar'='desiar'
'desiar' back-to-front is 'RAISED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for raised that I've seen before include "Lifted up, elevated" , "Uplifted" , "Collected for a purpose" , "Reared" , "Brought up, a child or subject" .)