"Not even a collar", you say (5)

I believe the answer is:

rough

'not even' is the definition.

'a collar you say' is the wordplay.
'a collar' becomes 'ruff' (ruff is a kind of collar).
'you say' shows a homophone (sound like).
'ruff' is a homophone of 'ROUGH'.

(Other definitions for rough that I've seen before include "Ill" , "Approximate; turbulent" , "Very choppy" , "that driver tries to avoid" , "grating > below par" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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