Crossword Genius

Could disheartened pony be looking game? (1-3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

i-spy

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'looking game?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'could disheartened pony' is the wordplay.
'could' becomes 'is' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'disheartened' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'pony' with its centre removed is 'py'.
'is'+'py'='I-SPY'

'be' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for i-spy that I've seen before include "Children's guessing game" , ". ... with my little eye (children's game)" , "Child's guessing game" , "Children's alphabet game" , "Wordgame" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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