Crossword Genius

Hints from prisoners about this, oddly (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

intimates

'hints' is the definition.
(intimating is a kind of hinting)

'prisoners about this oddly' is the wordplay.
'prisoners' becomes 'inmates' (inmate is a kind of prisoner).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'oddly' indicates alternate letters (letters in the odd-numbered positions are used).
The alternating letters of 'this' are 'ti'.
'inmates' going around 'ti' is 'INTIMATES'.

'from' acts as a link.

(Another definition for intimates that I've seen is " Hints - close friends".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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