Crossword Genius

Succeed ultimately, say, as painter and sculptor (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

degas

'painter and sculptor' is the definition.
(I know that Degas is a painter)

'succeed ultimately say as' is the wordplay.
'ultimately' says to take the final letters.
'say' becomes 'eg' (short for 'exempli gratia', 'for example' in Latin).
The final letter of 'succeed' is 'd'.
'd'+'eg'+'as'='DEGAS'

(Other definitions for degas that I've seen before include "He painted dancers" , "Edgar -, French impressionist" , "Edgar ---, Fr. impressionist" , "French painter of ballet girls etc" , "French impressionist painter, d. 1917" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app