Crossword Genius

Beetle small with base shortened (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

weevil

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

'beetle' is the definition.
(I know that weevil is a type of beetle)

'small with base shortened' is the wordplay.
'small with' becomes 'wee' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'base' becomes 'evil' (I've seen this in another clue).
'shortened' means to remove the first letter.
'evil' with its first letter taken off is 'vil'.
'wee'+'vil'='WEEVIL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for weevil that I've seen before include "little creature" , "Small kind of 15 down" , "Type of beetle that feeds of stored grain etc" , "Kind of beetle that damages crops" , "Small beetle that feeds on plants" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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.