What's explosive about sex appeal? She once told us! (4)

I believe the answer is:

hite

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'appeal? she once told us' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'what's explosive about sex' is the wordplay.
'what's explosive' becomes 'he' (abbreviation for high explosive).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'sex' becomes 'it' (a common euphemism).
'he' going around 'it' is 'HITE'.

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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