Crossword Genius

Poor painters and men are animals (4,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pine martens

'animals' is the definition.
The answer is an example.

'poor painters and men' is the wordplay.
'poor' indicates an anagram.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'painters' after 'men' is 'menpainters'.
'menpainters' is an anagram of 'PINE MARTENS'.

'are' is the link.

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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