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Smelling mouldy? Does he have to tell? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

musty

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'smelling mouldy? does he' is the definition.
'musty' can be an answer for 'smelling' (I have seen 'Stale smelling ' mean 'musty' so perhaps 'smelling' could also mean 'musty'). I'm unsure of the 'mouldy? does he' bit.

'have to tell?' is the wordplay.
'have to' becomes 'must' (I've seen this before).
'tell?' becomes 'y' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'must'+'y'='MUSTY'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for musty that I've seen before include "Stale and stuffy" , "Frowsty" , "Smelling of mould" , "Stale, mouldy-smelling" , "Stale and dank" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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