Crossword Genius

Monstrous thing, beastly female -- horror! (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nightmare

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

'horror' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'monstrous thing beastly female' is the wordplay.
'monstrous' indicates an anagram.
'beastly female' becomes 'mare' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'thing' with letters rearranged gives 'night'.
'night'+'mare'='NIGHTMARE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nightmare that I've seen before include "Horrifying experience" , "fiend" , "Frightening nocturnal fantasy" , "Awful experience" , "Terrifying experience" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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