A star of the printed word (8)

I believe the answer is:

asterisk

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'a star' is the definition.
(I know that star can be written as asterisk)

I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for asterisk that I've seen before include "Star on a page" , "Textual reference symbol" , "Star shaped symbol" , "Star-shaped mark in printing" , "Text-marking symbol" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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