Crossword Genius

Miserable face, taking in the outskirts of Stockholm (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dismal

'miserable' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'face taking in the outskirts of stockholm' is the wordplay.
'face' becomes 'dial' (dial is a kind of face).
'taking in' is an insertion indicator.
'the outskirts of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'stockholm' with its centre removed is 'sm'.
'dial' placed around 'sm' is 'DISMAL'.

(Other definitions for dismal that I've seen before include "Very disappointing" , "Discouraging" , "'Gloomy, grim (6)'" , "Depressing; dreary" , "Showing gloom, dreary" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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