Tough person also hot in drag (4)

I believe the answer is:

thug

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'tough' is the definition.
('thug' can be a synonym of 'tough')

'hot in drag' is the wordplay.
'hot' becomes 'h'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'drag' becomes 'tug' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'h' placed within 'tug' is 'THUG'.

'person also' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for thug that I've seen before include "Gorilla" , "Hooligan" , "Violent hoodlum" , "Violent criminal" , "Heavy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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