Crossword Genius

Cryptic allusion aligned with evil heart?! (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

villainous

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

'cryptic allusion aligned with evil heart?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'aligned with evil heart?' is the wordplay.
'aligned' becomes 'llainous' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'heart?' indicates the central letters (I've seen 'heart of' mean this).
The middle of 'evil' is 'vi'.
'llainous' after 'vi' is 'VILLAINOUS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for villainous that I've seen before include "really bad" , "criminal" , "very unpleasant" , "dramatically bad" , "Nasty" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.