Crossword Genius

Hard to avoid in merciless villain’s garment? (5-7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

habit-forming

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

'hard' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'to avoid in merciless villain's garment?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'to' could be 'for' and 'for' is found in the answer.
'in' is found in the answer.
'garment?' could be 'habit' (habiting is a kind of garmenting) and 'habit' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for habit-forming that I've seen is " Addictive".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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