Keener Criminal Further Up The Scale Crossword Clue

We think the answer is "SHARPER" which means:

noun
• • A professional card player who makes a living by cheating at card games
adjective
• • Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut easily; not obtuse or rounded.
• • Intelligent.
• • Higher than usual by one semitone (denoted by the symbol ♯ after the name of the note).
• • Higher in pitch than required.
• • Having an intense, acrid flavour.
• • Sudden and intense.
• • Illegal or dishonest.
• • Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interests; shrewd.
• • Exact, precise, accurate; keen.
• • Offensive, critical, or acrimonious.
• • Stylish or attractive.
• • Observant; alert; acute.
• • Forming a small angle; especially, forming an angle of less than ninety degrees.
• • Steep; precipitous; abrupt.
• • (of a statement) said of as extreme a value as possible.
• • Tactical; risky.
• • Piercing; keen; severe; painful.
• • Eager or keen in pursuit; impatient for gratification.
• • Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; impetuous.
• • Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty.
• • Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone; aspirated; unvoiced.
• • Hungry.

An example sentence would be:

• • "She always kept her knives sharper than anyone else in the kitchen."
• • "The new pencil sharpener produces a much sharper point than the old one."

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