Laments on independence - look around outside (7)

I believe the answer is:

elegies

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'laments' is the definition.
(I know this)

'on independence look around outside' is the wordplay.
'on' becomes 'leg' (cricket term, fielding positions).
'independence' becomes 'I'.
'look around' becomes 'ees' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'outside' is an insertion indicator.
'leg'+'i'='legi'
'legi' placed inside 'ees' is 'ELEGIES'.

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(Other definitions for elegies that I've seen before include "Mourning songs" , "Lamenting poems" , "Laments for the dead" , "Poems of mourning" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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