Crossword Genius

Popular iron tonic treated contagion (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

infection

'contagion' is the definition.
(I know that contagion can be written as infection)

'popular iron tonic treated' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'iron' becomes 'Fe' (chemical symbol for iron).
'treated' indicates an anagram.
'tonic' is an anagram of 'ction'.
'in'+'fe'+'ction'='INFECTION'

(Other definitions for infection that I've seen before include "what may be caught" , "Process of catching virus" , "Invasion of the body by pathogenic micro-organisms" , "Invasion by pathogenic micro-organism" , "Disease caught" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.