Crossword Genius

Steer to encircle extremely raggedy creature (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

oryx

'creature' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'steer to encircle extremely raggedy' is the wordplay.
'steer' becomes 'ox' (a steer is a castrated ox).
'to encircle' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'extremely' means to remove the middle letters (only the extremes of the word are used).
'raggedy' with its centre removed is 'ry'.
'ox' placed around 'ry' is 'ORYX'.

(Other definitions for oryx that I've seen before include "African long-horned grazer" , "Long-horned African antelope" , "horny beast" , "creature" , "African native" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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.