Not the same old few ran (6)

I believe the answer is:

flowed

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'not the same' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'old few ran' is the wordplay.
'ran' is an anagram indicator (letters have run around).
'old'+'few'='oldfew'
'oldfew' with letters rearranged gives 'FLOWED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for flowed that I've seen before include "What the champagne did" , "Moved steadily in a stream" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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