Crossword Genius

It has the edge in rural gatherings (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

reaper

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'edge in rural gatherings' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.

'it has' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'raper' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'the' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for reaper that I've seen before include "One harvesting crop" , "that you don't want to meet if it's grim" , "Farm machine (possibly grim?)" , "Wordsworth's was Solitary" , "One gathers" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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