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China's expelling Queen is hard and very cruel (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fiendish

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'cruel' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fiendish that I've seen before include "how diabolically cruel" , "Terrible" , "Very difficult" , "Diabolic" , "like some Sudokus" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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