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Come back about vicious mongrel dog (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

recur

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'come back' is the definition.
(recurring is a kind of coming back)

'vicious mongrel dog' is the wordplay.
'vicious' becomes 're' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mongrel dog' becomes 'cur' (I've seen this before).
're'+'cur'='RECUR'

'about' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for recur that I've seen before include "Come round again" , "expected to return" , "Persist" , "Happen again or repetitively" , "come back to one's mind" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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