Crossword Genius

Tail of ruminant grabbed by a smarter animal (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

anteater

'animal' is the definition.
(anteater is a kind of animal)

'tail of ruminant grabbed by a smarter' is the wordplay.
'tail of' suggests the final letters.
'grabbed by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are grabbed inside).
'smarter' becomes 'neater' ('neat' can be a synonym of 'smart').
The last letter of 'ruminant' is 't'.
'a'+'neater'='aneater'
't' placed inside 'aneater' is 'ANTEATER'.

(Other definitions for anteater that I've seen before include "animal (this one?)" , "Long-snouted insectivore" , "Long tongued creature" , "Insectivorous mammal" , "Pangolin, for example" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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