Crossword Genius

Yet another scale is shoddy (5-4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

third-rate

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'shoddy' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?

I don't understand the rest of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for third-rate that I've seen before include "Very inferior in numerical way" , "Very inferior in quality, using ordinal number" , "Very inferior in quality - count down" , "Very inferior in quality in numeric description" , "Of very poor quality" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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