Laughed unpleasantly as drinks knocked back by German editor (9)

I believe the answer is:

sniggered

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

'laughed' is the definition.
(sniggering is a kind of laughing)

'by german editor' is the wordplay.
'by' becomes 'snig' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'german' becomes 'ger' (abbreviation).
'editor' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation).
'snig'+'ger'+'ed'='SNIGGERED'

'unpleasantly as drinks knocked back' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for sniggered that I've seen is " Laughed slyly".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app