King captured by painter initially exclaims 'it's bloody red' (4)
I believe the answer is:
rare
'bloody red' is the definition.
'rare' can be an answer for 'red' (as in a rare steak). I'm not sure about the 'bloody' bit.
'king captured by painter initially exclaims' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for rex, king in Latin).
'captured by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'painter' becomes 'RA' (member of the Royal Academy of Arts).
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'exclaims' is 'e'.
'ra'+'e'='rae'
'r' going inside 'rae' is 'RARE'.
'it's' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rare that I've seen before include "thin on the ground" , "Especially good" , "Still red inside (as hens' teeth?)" , "of low density" , "Unusual - exquisite" .)