Crossword Genius

Box someone emptied and scattered (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sparse

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

'box someone emptied' is the wordplay.
'box' becomes 'spar' (sparring is a kind of boxing).
'emptied' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'someone' with its middle taken out is 'se'.
'spar'+'se'='SPARSE'

'and' is the link.

(Other definitions for sparse that I've seen before include "Thinly dispersed" , "Thinly populated" , "Thin on the ground, scarce" , "Rare" , "Far from lavish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.
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