Kind of newspaper, pale back always (2,1,3)
I believe the answer is:
in a way
'kind of' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'newspaper pale back always' is the wordplay.
'newspaper' becomes 'i' (UK newspaper).
'pale' becomes 'wan' ('wan' can be a synonym of 'pale').
'back' is a reversal indicator.
'always' becomes 'ay'.
'wan' backwards is 'naw'.
'i'+'naw'+'ay'='IN A WAY'
(Other definitions for in a way that I've seen before include "Sort of, in some respects" , "Sort of, to a limited extent" , "Kind of" , "To a certain extent" , "In some respects, to a limited extent" .)