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Fished in outfits like the devil (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fiendish

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'fished in outfits' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs can occasionally define each other.

'like the devil' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'like' could be 'ish' (similar in meaning) and 'ish' is located in the answer.
'devil' could be 'fiend' (synonyms) and 'fiend' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for fiendish that I've seen before include "like some Sudokus" , "Extremely cruel" , "Infernal" , "Diabolical" , "Very difficult" .)

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