The skinhead cried when given the brush-off (5)
I believe the answer is:
swept
'given the brush-off' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'the skinhead cried' is the wordplay.
'the skinhead' becomes 's' (head letter of 'skin').
'cried' becomes 'wept' ('weep' can be a synonym of 'cry').
's'+'wept'='SWEPT'
'when' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for swept that I've seen before include "what daily did" , "Cleaned by broom" , "Searched; cleaned" , "overwhelmed" , "Used a broom" .)