Crossword Genius

Cry out about us being initially tetchy and irascible! (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

crusty

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'irascible' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'cry out about us being initially tetchy' is the wordplay.
'out' means to remove the last letter.
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'being' becomes 'y' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'tetchy' is 't'.
'cry' with its final letter removed is 'cr'.
'us'+'y'='usy'
'usy' going around 't' is 'usty'.
'cr'+'usty'='CRUSTY'

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for crusty that I've seen before include "Sour and brusque, like outer part of bread" , "Curtsy (anag.)" , "bloomer like this?" , "Ill-humoured" , "Well baked - short-tempered" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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