Crossword Genius

Labourer's assistant could be so devious (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

underhand

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

'devious' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'labourer's assistant could be' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'labourer' could be 'hand' (hand is a kind of labourer) and 'hand' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'under' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'so' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for underhand that I've seen before include "Done in sly or secret way" , "delivery may be so made" , "In a secret or dishonest way" , "might be deceptive" , "Done dishonestly" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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