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Eclipsed by the rowers, Lucille is at a disadvantage (6,3,5,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

behind the eight ball

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'a disadvantage' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'eclipsed by the rowers lucille is at' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
'rowers' could be 'eight' (I've seen this before) and 'eight' is found within the answer.
'lucille' could be 'ball' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'ball' is present in the answer.
'is' could be 'be' and 'be' is found in the answer.
'at' could be 'in' and 'in' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for behind the eight ball that I've seen is " In a difficult situation".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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