Crossword Genius

Not so hairy — rubbish! (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

balderdash

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

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

'not so hairy' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'so' could be 'as' (eg 'not as tall as me' means 'not so tall as me') and 'as' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for balderdash that I've seen before include "garbage" , "Nonsense" , "tripe" , "Poppycock" , "Senseless talk/writing" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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