Crossword Genius

Teacher extremely likely to be very skilful (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

masterly

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'very skilful' is the definition.
'masterly' can be an answer for 'skilful' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'very' bit.

'teacher extremely likely' is the wordplay.
'teacher' becomes 'master' (I've seen this before).
'extremely' suggests removing the centre (only the extremes of the word are used).
'likely' with its middle taken out is 'ly'.
'master'+'ly'='MASTERLY'

'to be' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for masterly that I've seen before include "Virtuoso, consummate" , "Supremely skilled" , "Highly skilled" , "Expert" , "World-class" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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