Hesitant, blushing; made a mistake (5)

I believe the answer is:

erred

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'made a mistake' is the definition.
('err' can be a synonym of 'make a mistake')

'hesitant blushing' is the wordplay.
'hesitant' becomes 'er' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'blushing' becomes 'red' (blushing makes someone's face go red).
'er'+'red'='ERRED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for erred that I've seen before include "Made mistake, was incorrect" , "Went wrong" , "Was mistaken" , "Made mistakes" , "Strayed from the straight and narrow" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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