The writer recalled year in care of relative as starting-point (6)
I believe the answer is:
embryo
'relative as starting-point' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'the writer recalled year in care' is the wordplay.
'the writer' becomes 'me' (the person who wrote the clues).
'recalled' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'year' becomes 'y'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'care' becomes 'bro' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'me' in reverse letter order is 'em'.
'y' put within 'bro' is 'bryo'.
'em'+'bryo'='EMBRYO'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for embryo that I've seen before include "that develops after congress" , "Rudimentary state" , "Organism at early stage" , "Conceptus" , "Developing foetus" .)