Crossword Genius

Maybe Hamlet's house extremely gruesome (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

village

'maybe hamlet's' is the definition.

'house extremely gruesome' is the wordplay.
'house' becomes 'villa' (villa is a kind of house).
'extremely' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'gruesome' with its middle removed is 'ge'.
'villa'+'ge'='VILLAGE'

(Other definitions for village that I've seen before include "little place" , "Small rural settlement" , "Goldsmith poem 'The Deserted .......'" , "Small group of dwellings" , "Small residential area" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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