Crossword Genius

Comes close to breaking out of a snare (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nears

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

'comes close to' is the definition.

'of a snare' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates an anagram (the answer comes from or 'of' the letters).
'snare' is an anagram of 'NEARS'.

'breaking out' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nears that I've seen before include "advances" , "Draws closer to" , "Comes closer" , "Draws close" , "Gets closer" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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