Did not live in penury, Pole (5)

I believe the answer is:

wasnt

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'did not live' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'in penury pole' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'penury' becomes 'want' (I've seen this in another clue).
'pole' becomes 's' (abbreviation for South, as in South Pole).
'want' enclosing 's' is 'WASNT'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for wasnt that I've seen is " A denial".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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