A doctor punching curt chap Serpent (5)

I believe the answer is:

mamba

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

'serpent' is the definition.
(I know that Mamba is a type of elapid)

'a doctor punching curt chap' is the wordplay.
'a doctor' becomes 'MB' (Bachelor of Medicine, Medicinae Baccalaureus).
'punching' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters punch a hole in others).
'curt chap' becomes 'maa' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mb' inserted into 'maa' is 'MAMBA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mamba that I've seen before include "One's venomous" , "Snake that might kill" , "It may be deadly" , "Deadly African snake" , "Venomous snake; rhymes with dance" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.