Crossword Genius

Dumb as leading character in Psycho? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

silent

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

'dumb' is the definition.
(I know that dumb can be written as silent)

'leading character in psycho?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'character' could be 't' and 't' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'silen' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for silent that I've seen before include "A continent" , "Without sound" , "Like early films" , "Soundless" , "Strange and astonishing thing" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.
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