Crossword Genius

Dictator king fed to Jaguar? (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

autocrat

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

'dictator' is the definition.
(autocrat is a kind of dictator)

'king fed to jaguar?' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'R' (abbreviation for rex, king in Latin).
'fed' indicates putting letters inside.
'to' becomes 'auto' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'jaguar?' becomes 'cat' (jaguar is a kind of cat).
'auto'+'cat'='autocat'
'r' inserted into 'autocat' is 'AUTOCRAT'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for autocrat that I've seen before include "Dictatorial type" , "Ruler with absolute power" , "Arrogant type" , "Domineering person" , "All-powerful ruler" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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.