Crossword Genius

The girl had to accept guile beats statistics (5,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

heart rate

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'beats statistics' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.

'the girl had to accept guile' is the wordplay.
'the girl' becomes 'her' ('her' refers to a girl or woman).
'had' becomes 'ate' (e.g. I had an ice cream).
'to accept' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'guile' becomes 'art' (I've seen this in another clue).
'her'+'ate'='herate'
'herate' placed around 'art' is 'HEART RATE'.

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I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sunday Times.
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