Crossword Genius

Aggressive animal -- say it turns on owner finally? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tiger

'aggressive animal' is the definition.
'tiger' can be an answer for 'animal' (thesaurus). I also know that 'aggressive' relates to this answer.

'say it turns on owner finally?' is the wordplay.
'say' becomes 'eg' (**).
'turns' says the letters should be written backwards.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'finally?' suggests the final letters (I've seen 'finally' mean this).
The last letter of 'owner' is 'r'.
'eg'+'it'='egit'
'egit' in reverse letter order is 'tige'.
'tige'+'r'='TIGER'

(Other definitions for tiger that I've seen before include "Striped carnivore" , "Dangerous animal" , "Asian animal" , "audacious person" , "Formidable opponent" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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