In spite of that, always greater (12)
I believe the answer is:
nevertheless
'in spite of that' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'always greater' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'always' could be 'ever' (synonyms) and 'ever' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nevertheless that I've seen before include "Still" , "But always" , "at any rate" , "anyhow" , "In spite of everything" .)