Charm hostage over a time (9)

I believe the answer is:

captivate

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'charm' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'hostage over a time' is the wordplay.
'hostage' becomes 'captive' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'over' is an insertion indicator.
'time' becomes 't'.
'a'+'t'='at'
'captive' enclosing 'at' is 'CAPTIVATE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for captivate that I've seen before include "Charm" , "Enchant" , "Fascinate completely" , "Delight" , "Entrance" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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