Crossword Genius

American faction losing weight exercising (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

using

'exercising' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'american faction losing weight' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'us'.
'faction' becomes 'wing'.
'losing' is a deletion indicator.
'weight' becomes 'w'.
'wing' with 'w' taken away is 'ing'.
'us'+'ing'='USING'

(Other definitions for using that I've seen before include "addiction" , "practice" , "Putting into service" , "Exercising" , "Employing" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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