Tasteful start of a picture, at some cinemas (5)
I believe the answer is:
aspic
'tasteful start' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'picture at some cinemas' is the wordplay.
'picture' becomes 'pic' (short for picture).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'some cinemas' becomes 'as' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pic' after 'as' is 'ASPIC'.
'of a' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aspic that I've seen before include "garnish" , "Stock set with food" , "Savoury jelly for coating meats and eggs" , "Clear meat or fish jelly" , "Savoury jelly for coating meat, eggs etc" .)