Crossword Genius

Small and friendly crowd (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

swarm

'crowd' is the definition.
(swarming is a kind of crowding)

'small and friendly' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'friendly' becomes 'warm' ('warm' can be a synonym of 'friendly').
's'+'warm'='SWARM'

(Other definitions for swarm that I've seen before include "Horde" , "Mob" , "Body of bees" , "Go to form new colony" , "Congregate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph and The Daily Express.
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