Artful perhaps as a ducker? (6)
I believe the answer is:
dodger
'ducker?' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
I don't understand the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dodger that I've seen before include "Roger, possibly" , "The Artful . . . . . . was Oliver Twist's friend" , "Dickens created an Artful . . . . . ." , "Oliver is the artful one" , "Dickens boy was an Artful one" .)