Rise to embrace comedian, a wise guy (4-2-3)

I believe the answer is:

know-it-all

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

'wise guy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'rise to embrace comedian a' is the wordplay.
'rise' becomes 'knoll' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to embrace' indicates putting letters inside.
'comedian' becomes 'wit' (a witty person).
'wit'+'a'='wita'
'knoll' enclosing 'wita' is 'KNOW-IT-ALL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for know-it-all that I've seen before include "Smart alec" , "Unteachable bigot" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app