Crossword Genius

Plain stewed prune acting as a spirit? (15)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

unprepossessing

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

'plain' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'stewed prune acting as a spirit?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'prune' is 'unpre' which is within the answer.
'as' could be 'in' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'in' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for unprepossessing that I've seen before include "off-putting" , "Not appealing to the eye" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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