Master knight called Hill (8)

I believe the answer is:

surmount

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'master knight' is the definition.
'surmount' can be an answer for 'master' (synonyms). I'm unsure of the 'knight' bit.

'called hill' is the wordplay.
'called' becomes 'sur' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'hill' becomes 'mount' (I've seen this before).
'sur'+'mount'='SURMOUNT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for surmount that I've seen before include "Overcome a difficulty, get over" , "Get on top of" , "Overcome (obstacle)" , "Tight embrace" , "Prevail over" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.