Sly fellow with neat playing, essentially (4)
I believe the answer is:
foxy
'sly' is the definition.
('foxy' can be a synonym of 'sly')
'fellow with neat playing essentially' is the wordplay.
'fellow with' becomes 'f' (I've seen this in other clues).
'neat' becomes 'ox' (I've seen this in other clues).
'essentially' means to look at the middle letters.
The central letter of 'playing' is 'y'.
'f'+'ox'+'y'='FOXY'
(Other definitions for foxy that I've seen before include "Vulpine; sly" , "Clever in vulpine manner" , "Hot" , "tricky" , "Sly -- sexy" .)