Crossword Genius

Sp___ holiday people on vacation (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hype

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

'holiday people on vacation' is the wordplay.
'holiday' becomes 'hy' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'on vacation' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (after the inside letters have vacated the word).
'people' with its middle removed is 'pe'.
'hy'+'pe'='HYPE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hype that I've seen before include "Intensive publicity" , "Plug" , "Intensive promotion or excitement" , "Slang for extravagant promotion of a product" , "Advert" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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