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Cleopatra's end? Cleopatra's heart stopped by this serpentine character (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

asp

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'serpentine character' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.

'cleopatra's end? cleopatra's heart stopped by' is the wordplay.
'end?' says to take the final letters (I've seen 'end of' mean this).
'heart' indicates the central letters.
'stopped' becomes 's' (this could be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
The middle letter of 'cleopatra' is 'p'.
The last letter of 'cleopatra' is 'a'.
'p' put after 's' is 'sp'.
'a'+'sp'='ASP'

'this' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for asp that I've seen before include "Cold-blooded killer" , "Snake seen in a spa, strangely" , "A glider's what's called for" , "the snake in Cleopatra''s bosom" , "something at the zoo" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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