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Dogs, for example, adult abandoned in passageway (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

isle

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'passageway' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'dogs for example adult abandoned in' is the wordplay.
'dogs for' becomes 'ile' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'example' becomes 'as' (I've seen this in other clues).
'adult' becomes 'a'.
'abandoned' suggests deleting specific letters.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'as' with 'a' removed is 's'.
'ile' going around 's' is 'ISLE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for isle that I've seen before include "cut-off location" , "Small landmass" , "eg Man, Dogs" , "Said of Sheppey, Dogs, Wight or Man?" , "''There is an ..., a bonny ...'' (anthem of Shannon RFC)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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