Crossword Genius

The poorest, often from a seaside town (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lowest

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

'poorest often from a seaside town' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'lowes' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lowest that I've seen before include "Nearest the ground" , "(Of number) least" , "extremely vulgar" , "Towels for the most humble" , "most depressed" .)

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