“Skiplagging” — or booking a flight with a layover to skip the last leg of travel — is a common hack for travelers who don’t want to pay for a direct flight or who to save money on airfare to a connecting destination. Airlines contend the practice results in lost revenue for seats on planes.
So you can’t do a round trip?
Two one-ways. Your origin would have to be the city you want to fly from, as missing an earlier flight generally means your ticket gets cancelled.
This can be a little difficult flying from, for example, Denver to Albuquerque. There probably won’t be many cheaper flights if you add Albuquerque to Los Angeles or Houston or something, but Albuquerque to Denver may be cheaper if you had a connection to Las Vegas or something.