The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ORANGUTAN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
O
R
A
N
G
U
T
A
N
More clues leading to the result ORANGUTAN
- Native of Borneo weaving a Tongan rug, shortly
- Species that’s endangered as a result of a tiny alteration in Trump’s tone
- Blooming cages chimed with an ape
- Hirsute character in Oxford University called Brown
- Monkey's colour fading at the tail, heard you added colour!
- Granulation is abnormal after lithium is taken out by an animal
- Called out to trap an ape
- Mostly orange-headed, for all to see, and brown ape
- Called to check out, one is found in Indonesia
- Ape is a nut running after fruit mostly
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Hirsute character" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case hirsute character = orangutan.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does ORANGUTAN mean?
ORANGUTAN noun- An arboreal anthropoid ape genus Pongo consisting of two species, Pongo pygmaeus of Borneo and Pongo abelii of Sumatra, having a shaggy reddish-brown coat, long arms, and no tail.