Crossword Genius

Piggy eats up prickly rodent (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

porcupine

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

'prickly rodent' is the definition.
'porcupine' can be an answer for 'rodent' (porcupine is a kind of rodent). I'm not sure about the 'prickly' bit.

'piggy eats up' is the wordplay.
'piggy' becomes 'porcine' (synonyms).
'eats' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'porcine' placed around 'up' is 'PORCUPINE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for porcupine that I've seen before include "prickly type" , "Mammal with pointed quills" , "Recoup pin from its bristles" , "Rodent covered in quills" , "Rodent with sharp bristles" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app