Crossword Genius

How many, about, will be in the container? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

three

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

'how many about will' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.

'in the container?' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'container?' becomes 're' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'the' placed around 're' is 'THREE'.

'be' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for three that I've seen before include "Start to count back, briefly" , "Number of Furies or Norns" , "Prime number" , "Number of strikes before you're out" , "One, one, one" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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