Crossword Genius

Belted clothing needed in the middle (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

clobbered

'belted' is the definition.
(belt can mean to clobber or hit)

'clothing needed in the middle' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'clothing' could be 'clobber' (informal UK term for clothing) and 'clobber' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ed' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

(Other definitions for clobbered that I've seen before include "Walloped" , "Hit hard" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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