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Native American protagonist living mostly under cover, initially (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cherokee

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

'protagonist living mostly under cover initially' is the wordplay.
'protagonist' becomes 'hero' (I've seen this before).
'living' becomes 'keep' ('keep' can be a synonym of 'living').
'mostly' means to remove the last letter.
'under' says to put letters next to each other.
'cover initially' becomes 'c' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'hero'+'keep'='herokeep'
'herokeep' with its final letter removed is 'herokee'.
'herokee' put after 'c' is 'CHEROKEE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cherokee that I've seen before include "Might the reek echo badly for the native American?" , "One of the Iroquois people" , "Does the reek echo peculiarly for the native American?" , "Native American people, originally living in the Appalachian Mountains" , "one found with reservations?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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