Crossword Genius

Hot and barren ground is detestable (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

abhorrent

'is detestable' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'hot and barren ground' is the wordplay.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'ground' is an anagram indicator ('grind' the letters into a new form).
'hot' after 'barren' is 'barrenhot'.
'barrenhot' anagrammed gives 'ABHORRENT'.

(Other definitions for abhorrent that I've seen before include "Ugly" , "Rob in Tehran - that's disgusting" , "far from agreeable" , "Horrible" , "revolting" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.
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