Crossword Genius

Grouchy stepmother ill-treated Rose (5-8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

short-tempered

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'grouchy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'stepmother ill-treated rose' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'stepmother' is 'shorttempe' which is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'red' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for short-tempered that I've seen before include "Testy" , "Impatient" , "Easily moved to anger" , "Easily riled" , "Quick to anger" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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