Crossword Genius

Having kittens in hoarding outside fairground (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

afraid

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'having kittens' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'hoarding outside fairground' is the wordplay.
'hoarding' becomes 'ad' (a hoarding is a board for advertisements).
'outside' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'fairground' becomes 'frai' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ad' placed around 'frai' is 'AFRAID'.

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for afraid that I've seen before include "Fearful, anxious" , "cowardly" , "Scared - politely regretful" , "makes one panicky" , "wind up" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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