Crossword Genius

What the squatters did? (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sat

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'did?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with motion as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'what the squatters' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'sa' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sat that I've seen before include "Took (an exam)" , "Pulled up a 29 down" , "nearly half a day" , "Used a chair" , "part of the weekend" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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