Crossword Genius

As characters here (initials), positioned thus? (14)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

alphabetically

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'thus?' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'as characters here initials positioned' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'characters' could be 'alphabet' (I've seen this before) and 'alphabet' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for alphabetically that I've seen before include "As assigned by initial letters" , "As ABCDE are arranged" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app