Underhand opening for Dean and Prior to dismiss Priest (7)
I believe the answer is:
devious
'underhand' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'opening for dean and prior to dismiss priest' is the wordplay.
'opening for dean' becomes 'd' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'prior' becomes 'previous' (I've seen this before).
'to dismiss' is a deletion indicator.
'priest' becomes 'pr'.
'previous' with 'pr' taken out is 'evious'.
'd'+'evious'='DEVIOUS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for devious that I've seen before include "Underhand -- sneaky" , "Underhand, deceitful" , "Not straightforward or direct" , "Cunning and deceitful" , "Not straightforward, underhand" .)