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I raced around and looked (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spied

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

'looked' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'i raced around' is the wordplay.
'raced' becomes 'sped' ('speed' can be a synonym of 'race').
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'i' placed into 'sped' is 'SPIED'.

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spied that I've seen before include "Spotted" , "Caught sight of" , "Was a secret agent" , "Seen" , "Saw" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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