Sporadic disputes over sweetheart (6)

I believe the answer is:

sparse

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'sporadic' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'disputes over sweetheart' is the wordplay.
'disputes' becomes 'spars' (I've seen this before).
'over sweetheart' becomes 'e' (the heart/centre of 'sweet'. I am not sure about the 'over' bit.).
'spars'+'e'='SPARSE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sparse that I've seen before include "Thinly distributed" , "Far from lavish" , "Thin on the ground, scarce" , "Meagre, thin on the ground" , "Not much" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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