Crossword Genius

Knight stops magician creating beastly inflammation (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mange

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

'beastly inflammation' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'knight stops magician' is the wordplay.
'knight' becomes 'N' (chess abbreviation).
'stops' is an insertion indicator (stopping can mean blocking a gap).
'magician' becomes 'mage'.
'n' placed into 'mage' is 'MANGE'.

'creating' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mange that I've seen before include "Disease affecting dog hair" , "Animal's skin disease causing loss of hair" , "disease results" , "Skin disease of cats and dogs" , "Skin disease of mammals" .)

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.