What the tabloids call Susan Boyle's badly trained assistant (11)

I believe the answer is:

subordinate

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'assistant' is the definition.
(I know that subordinate is a type of assistant)

I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for subordinate that I've seen before include "Inferior" , "going below" , "Lower in rank" , "Of less importance" , "Dependent" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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