Crossword Genius

Animal or snake with a peculiar tail (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

boar

'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'snake with a peculiar tail' is the wordplay.
'snake' becomes 'boa' (boa is a kind of snake).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'tail' says to take the final letters.
The final letter of 'peculiar' is 'r'.
'boa'+'r'='BOAR'

'or' is the link.

(Other definitions for boar that I've seen before include "The head for drink Falstaff had" , "Uncastrated male pig" , "Resting place for birds or bats" , "Uncastrated male hog" , "Wild swine" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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