Crossword Genius

Dark having arisen, mysterious thing the witching hour (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

midnight

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'the witching hour' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'dark having arisen mysterious thing' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'dark' could be 'night' (it's dark at nighttime) and 'night' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'mid' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for midnight that I've seen before include "When PM turns to AM" , "Twenty four hundred hours (or 0000) hrs" , "possibly go to sleep this time?" , "-- Sun; -- blue" , "The end of a day" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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