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Pauses at "Is back among these convinced" (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hesitates

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'pauses' is the definition.
('hesitate' can be a synonym of 'pause')

'at is back among these convinced' is the wordplay.
'back' says the letters should be written backwards.
'among' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are placed among others).
'these convinced' becomes 'hetes' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'at'+'is'='atis'
'atis' back-to-front is 'sita'.
'sita' going inside 'hetes' is 'HESITATES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hesitates that I've seen before include "rather dubious" , "thinks twice" , "Is somewhat lost for words" , "dithers" , "Has misgivings" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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