Crossword Genius

Witch destroyed crosses without hesitation (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sorceress

'witch' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'destroyed crosses without hesitation' is the wordplay.
'destroyed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'hesitation' becomes 'er'.
'crosses' anagrammed gives 'sorcess'.
'sorcess' going around 'er' is 'SORCERESS'.

(Other definitions for sorceress that I've seen before include "Circe, perhaps" , "charming female" , "Witch" , "Female magician" , "Spell-casting female" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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