Crossword Genius

Utter hard man giving a hug to hard men (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thorough

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'utter' is the definition.
(I know that utter can be written as thorough)

'hard man giving a hug to hard men' is the wordplay.
'hard man giving' becomes 'tough' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a hug' indicates putting letters inside.
'to hard' becomes 'h' (abbreviation used in pencil classifications).
'men' becomes 'OR' (military abbreviation for Other Ranks).
'h'+'or'='hor'
'tough' enclosing 'hor' is 'THOROUGH'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for thorough that I've seen before include "Paying attention to detail, meticulous" , "Downright" , "Painstakingly careful and accurate" , "Complete; utter" , "Complete, absolute" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sunday Times.
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