Flirted, messed about! (7)
I believe the answer is:
trifled
'about' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, past participle verbs and adjectives can sometimes mean the same thing.
'flirted messed' is the wordplay.
'messed' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'mess' mean this).
'flirted' with letters rearranged gives 'TRIFLED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for trifled that I've seen is " Did toy".)
I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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