Horrify a very quiet little man (5)

I believe the answer is:

appal

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'horrify' is the definition.
(I know that horrify can be written as appal)

'a very quiet little man' is the wordplay.
'very quiet' becomes 'pp' (musical abbreviation for pianissimo).
'little' means to remove the last letter (the word is not quite complete).
'man' becomes 'pal' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'pp' with its last letter removed is 'p'.
'a'+'p'+'pal'='APPAL'

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(Other definitions for appal that I've seen before include "expressed dismay" , "Disgust" , "Put at rest (suspicion)" , "Fill with horror" , "Outrage" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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