Highly populated like Lincoln? Not initially (11)
I believe the answer is:
residential
'highly populated' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, past participle verbs and adjectives occasionally define each other.
'lincoln? not initially' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'not' could be 'nt' (synonyms) and 'nt' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'like' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for residential that I've seen before include "Suitable for houses" , "Pertaining to housing" , "for dwelling" , "suitable for housing" , "relative to a home" .)