Crossword Genius

Looking ugly, hides out for half an hour (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hideous

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

'looking ugly' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'hides out for half an hour' is the wordplay.
'out' means to remove the last letter.
'for' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'half an hour' becomes 'ous' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'hides' with its final letter taken away is 'hide'.
'hide'+'ous'='HIDEOUS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hideous that I've seen before include "Frightful" , "Extremely unpleasant" , "Ghastly" , "Unsightly" , "Horrible" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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