Crossword Genius

View dastardly ends as shabby (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

seedy

'shabby' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'view dastardly ends' is the wordplay.
'view' becomes 'see' ('see' can be a synonym of 'view').
'ends' means to remove the middle letters.
'dastardly' with its centre taken out is 'dy'.
'see'+'dy'='SEEDY'

'as' is the link.

(Other definitions for seedy that I've seen before include "Unseemly" , "Sordid and disreputable" , "Off-colour" , "Out of sorts" , "Run-down, squalid" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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