How the kisses were deleted? (7,3)

'deleted?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'how the kisses were' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
'were' could be 'crossed' (crossing is a kind of being) and 'crossed' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ou' 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?