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Compassion that made Pansy barmy over years (3,3,8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tea and sympathy

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'compassion' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'that made pansy barmy over years' is the wordplay.
'barmy' is an anagram indicator.
'over' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'years' becomes 'y' (abbreviation).
'that'+'made'+'pansy'='thatmadepansy'
'thatmadepansy' is an anagram of 'teaandsmpathy'.
'teaandsmpathy' going around 'y' is 'TEA AND SYMPATHY'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tea and sympathy that I've seen before include "obscure American play" , "Refreshing consolation" , "succour" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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