Was very successful in enlarging the thing? (4,2,3)

I believe the answer is:

made it big

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'was very' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'successful in enlarging the thing?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'successful' could be 'made' (similar in meaning) and 'made' is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

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I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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