Ship heels precariously on axis in awkward fashion (10)

I believe the answer is:

sheepishly

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'ship heels precariously on axis in awkward fashion' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'ship heels precariously on axis' is the wordplay.
'precariously' indicates an anagram (a precarious or shaky form of the letters).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'axis' becomes 'Y'.
'ship'+'heels'='shipheels'
'shipheels' anagrammed gives 'sheepishl'.
'sheepishl'+'y'='SHEEPISHLY'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sheepishly that I've seen before include "Shamefacedly" , "In shamefaced way" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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