Crossword Genius

Hypocrite needing hotel in the capital of France before middle of week (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pharisee

'hypocrite' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'hotel in the capital of france before middle of week' is the wordplay.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'in the' is an insertion indicator.
'capital of france' becomes 'paris' ('Paris' can be a synonym of 'capital of france').
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'middle of' means to look at the middle letters.
The middle letters of 'week' are 'ee'.
'h' placed inside 'paris' is 'pharis'.
'pharis'+'ee'='PHARISEE'

'needing' is the link.

(Other definitions for pharisee that I've seen before include "Member of ancient Jewish sect; Heap, sire (anag.)" , "Ancient Jewish sectarian" , "hypocritical type" , "Biblical follower of rules" , "Self-righteous one in the Bible" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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