Deity departed from cellar to do better? (5)
I believe the answer is:
excel
'do better?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'deity departed from cellar' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'from' could be 'ex' ('from' in Latin) and 'ex' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'cel' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for excel that I've seen before include "Outdo" , "Be very good at, better than others" , "Do really well as at exams" , "Do particularly well" , "Predominate in" .)