They shoot a number in the ship (5)

I believe the answer is:

stens

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'they shoot a' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'number in the ship' is the wordplay.
'number' becomes 'ten' (ten is a kind of number).
'in the' indicates putting letters inside.
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'ten' going within 'ss' is 'STENS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish News.

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