Vile, heartless way maybe worker grassed (7)

I believe the answer is:

verdant

'grassed' is the definition.

'vile heartless way maybe worker' is the wordplay.
'heartless' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'way' becomes 'rd'.
'maybe worker' becomes 'ant' (type of worker).
'vile' with its middle removed is 've'.
've'+'rd'+'ant'='VERDANT'

(Other definitions for verdant that I've seen before include "Rather green" , "Leafy" , "Having green growth" , "Covered with lush green grass or vegetation" , "Unsophisticated" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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