Crossword Genius

Ugly old women surrounding one's friends (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cronies

'friends' is the definition.
(crony is a kind of friend)

'ugly old women surrounding one's' is the wordplay.
'ugly old women' becomes 'crones' (I've seen this before).
'surrounding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'crones' placed around 'i' is 'CRONIES'.

(Another definition for cronies that I've seen is " 'Buddies, sidekicks (7)'".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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