True – ’s very quick, by the sound of it? (9)

I believe the answer is:

steadfast

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'true' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

''s very quick by the sound of it?' is the wordplay.
'very' becomes 'd' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'quick' becomes 'fast' (similar in meaning).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the sound of' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
't' sounds like 'tea'.
'd'+'fast'='dfast'
'dfast' after 'tea' is 'teadfast'.
's'+'teadfast'='STEADFAST'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for steadfast that I've seen before include "Dependable, unwavering" , "Constant, not changing or yielding" , "Dedicated" , "Resolutely unwavering" , "Sure" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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