Cheated on the absent assistant to The Minister (6)
I believe the answer is:
deacon
'to the minister' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cheated on the absent assistant' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'on' is within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for deacon that I've seen before include "Church minister" , "Layman attending to church duties" , "Cleric ranking just below a priest in Christian churches" , "Rank of clergy" , "Ordained cleric" .)