Crossword Genius

Chance in card game initially blown (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

evens

'chance' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'card game initially blown' is the wordplay.
'card game' becomes 'sevens' (sevens is a kind of card game).
'initially blown' means to remove the first letter.
'sevens' with its first letter removed is 'EVENS'.

'in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for evens that I've seen before include "Balanced odds" , "Exchange, substitute" , "Oddly, these could be odds" , "Chances" , "Smooths the odds" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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