Had done better than the other stars? (8)

'had' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I can't understand how they can define each other.

'done better than the other stars?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'done' could be 'u' and 'u' is found in the answer.
'better' could be 'hone' (honing is a kind of bettering) and 'hone' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'os' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?