Sly description of literary dodger (6)
I believe the answer is:
artful
This might be a double definition.
'sly' is the first definition.
(similar in meaning)
'description of literary dodger' is the second definition.
'Artful' can be an answer for 'dodger' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'description of literary' bit.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for artful that I've seen before include "Clever, tricky" , "Oliver Twist's pal was an . . . . . . dodger" , "Dickens boy, an . . . . . . Dodger" , "Clever like Dickens's Dodger" , "showing craft?" .)