Mangy spud, by the sound of it? (5)
I believe the answer is:
tatty
'sound of it?' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'mangy spud by the' is the wordplay.
'mangy spud' becomes 'atty' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'atty' put after 't' is 'TATTY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tatty that I've seen before include "Sounds like King Edward in Scotland" , "Tawdry" , "Neglected" , "Frayed" , "untidy" .)