Crossword Genius

Miss Marple’s middle man (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

male

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

'man' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'miss marple's middle' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'middle' could be 'm' (abbreviation for middle) and 'm' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ale' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for male that I've seen before include "A gender" , "man?" , "Maldives capital; masculine" , "One cannot have babies" , "As are drakes, bulls etc." .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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