Crossword Genius

Ancient men grabbed by old-maidish kisser (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

primordial

'ancient' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'men grabbed by old-maidish kisser' is the wordplay.
'men' becomes 'or' (I've seen this in other clues).
'grabbed by' is an insertion indicator.
'old-maidish' becomes 'prim' (I've seen this before).
'kisser' becomes 'dial' (both can be slang terms for 'face').
'prim'+'dial'='primdial'
'or' inserted inside 'primdial' is 'PRIMORDIAL'.

(Other definitions for primordial that I've seen before include "Having existed from the very start - limp or arid (anag)" , "from the first" , "Existing from the start of time" , "From the beginning of time" , "Original" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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