Mauled by some panther one day (5)
I believe the answer is:
pawed
'mauled' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'some panther one day' is the wordplay.
'some' indicates taking the first letters.
'one' becomes 'a'.
'day' becomes 'wed' (abbreviation for Wednesday).
The first letter of 'panther' is 'p'.
'p'+'a'+'wed'='PAWED'
'by' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pawed that I've seen before include "Roughly handled" , "Manhandled" .)