Crossword Genius

Novelist about fifty? Not quite (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hardly

'not quite' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'novelist about fifty?' is the wordplay.
'novelist' becomes 'hardy' (Hardy is a novelist).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'fifty?' becomes 'l' (roman numeral).
'hardy' placed around 'l' is 'HARDLY'.

(Other definitions for hardly that I've seen before include "Not much" , "Almost not" , "Barely, scarcely" , "Not quite "It seems unlikely!"" , "With great difficulty" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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