Crossword Genius

Old lady hollowed out tree at the front (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

elderly

'old' is the definition.
('elderly' can be similar in meaning to 'old')

'lady hollowed out tree at the front' is the wordplay.
'hollowed out' means to remove the middle letters.
'tree' becomes 'elder' (elder is a kind of tree**).
'at the front' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'lady' with its middle taken out is 'ly'.
'ly' after 'elder' is 'ELDERLY'.

(Other definitions for elderly that I've seen before include "Quite old" , "Getting on a bit" , "Old or ageing" , "over the hill" , "Not young" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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