Better pound shouldn’t feature King? (5)

I believe the answer is:

nicer

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'better pound' is the definition.
'nicer' can be an answer for 'better' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'pound' bit.

'shouldn't feature king?' is the wordplay.
'shouldn't feature' becomes 'nice' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'king?' becomes 'R' (abbreviation for rex, king in Latin).
'nice'+'r'='NICER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nicer that I've seen before include "it's more appealing" , "more accurate" , "More pleasant, French resort close to Montpellier" , "Kinder; finer" , "more likeable" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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