Rogues serious about theory (5)
I believe the answer is:
guess
'theory' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'rogues serious about' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates a hidden word (the clue goes around or about the answer).
'GUESS' is hidden in the letters of 'rogues serious'.
(Other definitions for guess that I've seen before include "Estimate, supposition" , "Fancy" , "Estimate; suppose" , "Reckon" , "Imagine" .)