Understood criminal's honest daughter (9)
I believe the answer is:
construed
'understood' is the definition.
(construing is a kind of understanding)
'criminal's honest daughter' is the wordplay.
'criminal's' becomes 'cons' (abbreviation for 'convict').
'honest' becomes 'true' ('true' is associated in meaning with 'honest').
'daughter' becomes 'd'.
'cons'+'true'+'d'='CONSTRUED'
(Another definition for construed that I've seen is " understood".)
I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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