Crossword Genius

Saying little boy almost in shape for ice cream? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

laconic

'saying little' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'boy almost in shape for ice cream?' is the wordplay.
'boy' becomes 'lad' (lad is a kind of boy).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'in shape for ice cream?' becomes 'conic' (as in an ice cream cone).
'lad' with its last letter taken away is 'la'.
'la'+'conic'='LACONIC'

(Other definitions for laconic that I've seen before include "Terse; pithy" , "without verbosity" , "'Curt, terse (7)'" , "with little expression" , "Tersely spoken" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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