Crossword Genius

Tommy's edging round enchanting lady in a fearful state? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

twitchy

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

'a fearful state?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'tommy's edging round enchanting lady' is the wordplay.
'edging' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (edging means the letters on the edges).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'enchanting lady' becomes 'witch'.
'tommy' with its middle taken out is 'ty'.
'ty' placed around 'witch' is 'TWITCHY'.

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for twitchy that I've seen before include "Showing signs of nervousness" , "Nervous" , "Agitated" , "Jerky" , "in a stew" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app