Crossword Genius

Crooked entries made up to confiscate the coop (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

serpentine

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

'crooked' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'entries made up to confiscate the coop' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
'coop' could be 'pen' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'pen' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'serine' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for serpentine that I've seen before include "Devious" , "Dark green mineral" , "Winding, twisting; mineral" , "Meandering" , "water created in London" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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