Crossword Genius

We run into a place? Kind of (2,2,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

as it were

'kind of' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'we run into a place?' is the wordplay.
'run' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'into' indicates putting letters inside.
'place?' becomes 'site' (synonyms).
'we'+'r'='wer'
'a'+'site'='asite'
'wer' inserted into 'asite' is 'AS IT WERE'.

(Other definitions for as it were that I've seen before include "you may say" , "In a manner of speaking" , "In a kind of way" , "Just like if really so" , "you might say" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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