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Nice and smooth, though there's a hole in it (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

green

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'smooth though there's a hole in it' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'nice and' is the wordplay.
'nice' becomes 'gree' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'and' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and').
'gree'+'n'='GREEN'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for green that I've seen before include "Consultative document" , "Naive; colour" , "like 29 [MARTIAN] , stereotypically" , "Concerned with the environment in colourful way" , "The colour of envy" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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