Crossword Genius

Work with pretending to be on the other side (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

opposing

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

'be on the other side' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'work with pretending' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'pretending' becomes 'posing' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'op'+'posing'='OPPOSING'

'to' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for opposing that I've seen before include "Contending" , "Disapproving" , "Going against" , "trying to end a sea of troubles by it?" , "modelling after work" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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