Not right from the start? (4,2,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
left at the post
'start?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'not right from the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'not' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'from' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for left at the post that I've seen is " beaten from the start".)