Crossword Genius

Guy giving a failure fresh heart (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dude

'guy' is the definition.
(both can informally mean a man)

'giving a failure fresh heart' is the wordplay.
'giving' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a failure' becomes 'dud' (dud is a kind of failure).
'heart' means to look at the middle letters.
The centre of 'fresh' is 'e'.
'dud'+'e' is 'DUDE'.

(Other definitions for dude that I've seen before include "Stylish chap" , "US geezer" , "Stylish man (US)" , "Man (US colloq.)" , "An American dandy out west" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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