Smooth operator taking one in - I'll find belief in odd places (9)

I believe the answer is:

plausible

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'smooth' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

I don't understand the rest of the clue.

(Other definitions for plausible that I've seen before include "Seemingly true" , "easy to swallow" , "Credible" , "Reasonable on the face of it" , "False but sounding true" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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