Swindle quietly put together by a rogue (5)
I believe the answer is:
scamp
'a rogue' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'swindle quietly put together' is the wordplay.
'swindle' becomes 'scam' (scam is a kind of swindle).
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'put together' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'scam'+'p'='SCAMP'
'by' is the link.
(Other definitions for scamp that I've seen before include "pickle" , "Little Devil" , "Scoundrel" , "A young rascal misbehaving in camps" , "Tearaway" .)