Former lover to pretend like you started it? Absolutely (7)

I believe the answer is:

exactly

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'absolutely' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'former lover to pretend like you started' is the wordplay.
'former lover' becomes 'ex' (an ex-lover).
'to pretend' becomes 'act' (I've seen this in other clues).
'started' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'like you' is 'ly'.
'ex'+'act'+'ly'='EXACTLY'

'it?' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for exactly that I've seen before include "Precisely thus" , "In precise terms" , "Dead" , "how one might express agreement?" , "in nice way" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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