Crossword Genius

Plant providing half of meal eaten by horse (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pimento

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'plant providing' is the definition.
'pimento' can be an answer for 'plant' (I've seen this before). I'm not sure about the 'providing' bit.

'half of meal eaten by horse' is the wordplay.
'half of' suggests halving the letters.
'eaten by' is an insertion indicator.
'horse' becomes 'pinto' (pinto is a kind of horse**).
'meal' cut in half is 'me'.
'me' going into 'pinto' is 'PIMENTO'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pimento that I've seen before include "Vegetable" , "Spicy berries" , "Sweet red pepper" , "Allspice - top mine (anag)" , "Type of pepper" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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