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A cat in charge at a very small level (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

atomic

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'small level' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'a cat in charge at a' is the wordplay.
'a cat' becomes 'tom' (a tom is a male cat).
'in charge' becomes 'ic' (abbreviation for 'in charge').
'at' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'tom'+'ic'='tomic'
'tomic' put after 'a' is 'ATOMIC'.

'very' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for atomic that I've seen before include "Basically simple" , "Realting to nuclear energy" , "Extremely minute" , "Like some clocks" , "Based on nuclear energy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express and The Mirror.
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