Is in the reserves but gets elevated (5)
I believe the answer is:
rises
'gets elevated' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'is in the reserves' is the wordplay.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'the reserves' becomes 'res' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'is' inserted into 'res' is 'RISES'.
'but' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rises that I've seen before include "Comes or goes upward" , "Moves upwards" , "Gets up" , "Moves upward" , "Ascends" .)