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Most miserable chaps, first in and no start for the remainder (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

meanest

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

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

'chaps first in and no start for the remainder' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'first' could be 'a' (first letter of the alphabet) and 'a' is present in the answer.
'chaps' could be 'men' (chap means a man) and 'men' is found in the remaining letters.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'es' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for meanest that I've seen before include "most squalid" , "Most stingy, like 16" , "Most unpleasant" , "Art expressing" , "Most stingy and least generous" .)

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