Fine leaving ace, taking king instead in moving forward (13)
I believe the answer is:
progressional
'instead in moving forward' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adjective which matches the answer.
'fine leaving ace taking king' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'ace' could be 'i' ('I' can be a synonym of 'ace') and 'i' is found within the answer.
'taking' could be 'on' (eg one taking drugs is 'on' drugs) and 'on' is located in the answer.
'king' could be 'gr' and 'gr' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution?
Install my app