Crossword Genius

Take heart and sneer about this furtive fellow (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sneaker

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'this furtive fellow' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'take heart and sneer about' is the wordplay.
'heart' indicates the central letters.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'about' indicates anagramming the letters.
The middle of 'take' is 'ak'.
'ak' after 'sneer' is 'sneerak'.
'sneerak' is an anagram of 'SNEAKER'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sneaker that I've seen before include "Trainer (shoe)" , "Canvas shoe" , "Soft shoe" , "one tending to go unnoticed?" , "Casual shoe" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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