Crossword Genius

House losers admire at heart? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

semi

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'house' is the definition.
(semi-detached house)

'losers admire at heart?' is the wordplay.
'losers' becomes 'se' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'at heart?' says to take the centre (I've seen 'at heart' mean this).
The central letters of 'admire' are 'mi'.
'se'+'mi'='SEMI'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for semi that I've seen before include "place" , "House joined to another" , "Not quite the biggest tie" , "half would do!" , "House linked to another" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app