Excessively severe maidens possibly conned, we hear (10)

I believe the answer is:

overstrict

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'maidens possibly conned we hear' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'excessively severe' is the wordplay.
'excessively' becomes 'over'.
'severe' becomes 'strict' (I've seen this before).
'over'+'strict'='OVERSTRICT'

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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