Crossword Genius

Reg returning without anxiety for the hood (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gangster

'the hood' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'reg returning without anxiety' is the wordplay.
'returning' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'without' indicates putting letters inside ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'anxiety' becomes 'angst' (angst is a type of anxiety).
'reg' backwards is 'ger'.
'ger' going around 'angst' is 'GANGSTER'.

'for' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for gangster that I've seen before include "Typical Cagney role" , "Mafia man" , "Crook" , "One of a group of violent criminals" , "Member of a mob like Al Capone" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.
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