Crossword Genius

Sheepish press chief retaining honour after hoax (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

shamefaced

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

'sheepish' is the definition.
(I know that sheepish can be written as shamefaced)

'press chief retaining honour after hoax' is the wordplay.
'press chief' becomes 'ed' (editor).
'retaining' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are held or retained).
'honour' becomes 'face' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'hoax' becomes 'sham' (I've seen this in another clue).
'ed' enclosing 'face' is 'efaced'.
'efaced' put after 'sham' is 'SHAMEFACED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for shamefaced that I've seen before include "Displaying dishonour" , "Hangdog" , "Sorry-looking" , "Looking guilty" , "became conscience-stricken" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.