Crossword Genius

Eponymous hero’s extremely offbeat greeting (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

othello

'eponymous hero's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'extremely offbeat greeting' is the wordplay.
'extremely' means to remove the middle letters.
'greeting' becomes 'hello' (hello is a kind of greeting).
'offbeat' with its centre taken out is 'ot'.
'ot'+'hello'='OTHELLO'

(Other definitions for othello that I've seen before include "Shakespearean play" , "Jealous character" , "As part" , "Will's hero" , "game with counters" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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