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"patchy" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often pied (4 letters).
Definitions
irregular or uneven in quality, texture, etc.
Word origin
From patch + -y.
Used in a sentence
“patchy clouds”
“a patchy performance”
“Added to these woes was the Treasury's demands for across-the-board train operator cost-cutting of broadly 10%. Passenger rail's slow, patchy and fragile recovery had the stuffing knocked out of it once more.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Uneven”6 letters
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