Fake mistreatment's covered I see (8)

I believe the answer is:

illusive

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'fake' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'mistreatment's covered i see' is the wordplay.
'mistreatment' becomes 'illuse' (I've seen this in another clue).
'covered' is an insertion indicator.
'see' becomes 'v' (short for 'vide', Latin meaning 'see elsewhere').
'i'+'v'='iv'
'illuse' going around 'iv' is 'ILLUSIVE'.

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(Another definition for illusive that I've seen is " unreal".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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