Crossword Genius

A disease found around outskirts of Peshawar is roughly reduced (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

approx

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

'roughly reduced' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'a disease found around outskirts of peshawar' is the wordplay.
'disease' becomes 'pox' (pox is a kind of disease).
'found around' indicates putting letters inside.
'outskirts of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only letters on the outskirts).
'peshawar' with its centre removed is 'pr'.
'pox' placed around 'pr' is 'pprox'.
'a'+'pprox'='APPROX'

'is' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for approx that I've seen before include "'Almost but not completely accurate, in short (6)'" , "'Roughly, in short (6)'" , "In brief, it's an estimate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.