Writer of many a possibly amusing piece (5)

I believe the answer is:

dumas

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'writer' is the definition.
(I know that Dumas is a writer)

I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.

(Other definitions for dumas that I've seen before include "Alexander ..... wrote ` `The Three Musketeers' '" , "of house in Moscow" , "Author of The Three Musketeers" , "French novelists, father and son" , "Alexandre ---, wrote Count of Monte Cristo" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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