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Spotted story about getting shot outside (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

splotchy

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'spotted' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'story about getting shot outside' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'story' could be 'plot' (plot is a kind of story) and 'plot' is located in the answer.
'about' could be 'c' (abbreviation for circa) and 'c' is present in the answer.
'shot' could be 'shy' (both can mean an act of throwing something) and 'shy' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for splotchy that I've seen is " Spotted, splashed".)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times and The Times.
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