Crossword Genius

Animal tales by maverick (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

beastly

'animal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'tales by maverick' is the wordplay.
'maverick' indicates anagramming the letters.
'tales'+'by'='talesby'
'talesby' with letters rearranged gives 'BEASTLY'.

(Other definitions for beastly that I've seen before include "Bestial" , "Brutal - foul" , "Brutish" , "Very unpleasant" , "Horrid" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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