Crossword Genius

Cheerful: shame supercilious (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

uppity

'supercilious' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'cheerful shame' is the wordplay.
'cheerful' becomes 'up' (I've seen this in other clues).
'shame' becomes 'pity' (synonyms).
'up'+'pity'='UPPITY'

(Other definitions for uppity that I've seen before include "Impertinent" , "Not easily persuaded" , "attitude" , "Informally presumptuous or arrogant" , "Informally pert or arrogant" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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