Crossword Genius

Beastly male, one covered in dye (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

animal

'beastly' is the definition.
(animal can mean like an animal)

'male one covered in dye' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'm' (common abbreviation).
'one' becomes 'a' (a thing is one thing).
'covered in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'dye' becomes 'anil' (anil is a kind of dye).
'm'+'a'='ma'
'ma' placed inside 'anil' is 'ANIMAL'.

(Other definitions for animal that I've seen before include "lamb, perhaps" , "savage" , "Creature having voluntary movement" , "Any organism capable of voluntary movement" , "Circus performer, maybe" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app