Crossword Genius

A bad chill that makes one feel very ill-natured (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

malice

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'a bad chill that makes one feel very ill-natured' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'a bad chill' is the wordplay.
'a bad' becomes 'mal' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'chill' becomes 'ice' (icing is a kind of chilling).
'mal'+'ice'='MALICE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for malice that I've seen before include "Ill will, a desire to harm others" , "Spite, venom" , "Wrongful intention" , "Spite or spleen, perhaps aforethought" , "Spite - desire to hurt" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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