Crossword Genius

Queen caught by group of stars and hit artist (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cleopatra

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

'queen' is the definition.
(I know that Cleopatra is a queen)

'caught by group of stars and hit artist' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'caught' could be 'c' (cricket abbreviation) and 'c' is found in the answer.
'by' could be 'at' and 'at' is found within the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
'artist' could be 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts) and 'ra' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'lep' 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 cleopatra that I've seen before include "ruler" , "Poet Clara is a queen" , "Her Needle is on the Embankment in London" , "Good part for actress" , "Film" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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