CIA list altered showing characters like these (7)

I believe the answer is:

italics

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'these' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'cia list altered' is the wordplay.
'altered' is an anagram indicator.
'cia'+'list'='cialist'
'cialist' with letters rearranged gives 'ITALICS'.

'showing characters like' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for italics that I've seen before include "Cursive script" , "Sloping text" , "Sloping font" , "Letters slanting upward to the right" , "Sloping typefaces" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.

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