Crossword Genius

Villain has border home occupying West Coast state (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

criminal

'villain' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'border home occupying west coast state' is the wordplay.
'border' becomes 'rim' (I've seen this before**).
'home' becomes 'in' ('he's home' can mean 'he's in').
'occupying' is an insertion indicator.
'west coast state' becomes 'cal' (abbreviation for California).
'rim'+'in'='rimin'
'rimin' put into 'cal' is 'CRIMINAL'.

'has' is the link.

(Other definitions for criminal that I've seen before include "Crook" , "Lawless, felonious" , "Deplorable, shocking" , "An habitual breaker of the law" , "Felon, malefactor" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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