Crossword Genius

Idiot might see new pay cut work both ways (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nincompoop

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

'idiot' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'work both ways' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'nincom' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'both ways' becomes 'poop'.
'nincom'+'poop'='NINCOMPOOP'

'might see new pay cut' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nincompoop that I've seen before include "dunce" , "Idiot" , "Wally" , "Twit" , "Foolish person" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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