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Sympathised with, when bound for the central hospital (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pitied

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

'bound for the central hospital' is the wordplay.
'bound' becomes 'tied' ('tie' can be a synonym of 'bind').
'for' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'the central' means to look at the middle letters.
The middle letters of 'hospital' are 'pi'.
'tied' put after 'pi' is 'PITIED'.

'when' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pitied that I've seen before include "Felt sorry for, sympathised with" , "Tie dip (anag.)" , "Felt compassion toward" , "Commiserated" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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