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Letter bound to have shown sympathy (6)

Ross
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'shown sympathy' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs sometimes define each other.

'letter bound to' is the wordplay.
'letter' becomes 'block letter' (block letter is a kind of letter).
'bound to' becomes 'y' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'block'+'y'='BLOCKY'

'have' acts as a link.

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