Crossword Genius

Making a hollow in detailed tooth material at midnight (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

denting

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'making a hollow' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'detailed tooth material at midnight' is the wordplay.
'detailed' means to remove the last letter (the word must be end-less or 'de-tailed').
'tooth material' becomes 'dentine' (I've seen this before).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'midnight' becomes 'g' (the middle letter in 'night').
'dentine' with its final letter taken off is 'dentin'.
'dentin'+'g'='DENTING'

'in' acts as a link.

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