Crossword Genius

Unattractive male lacking cleaner clothes (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

charmless

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

'unattractive' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'male lacking cleaner clothes' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'male' could be 'm' (common abbreviation) and 'm' is found within the answer.
'lacking' could be 'less' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'less' is present in the answer.
'cleaner' could be 'char' (charwoman is a type of cleaner) and 'char' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for charmless that I've seen before include "Unattractive" , "Without attractive features" , "Lacking any appeal" , "not winning" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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