Crossword Genius

Wild fire appearing shortly after wounding remark (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

barbarous

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

'wild' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'fire appearing shortly after wounding remark' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'remark' could be 'barb' (barb is a kind of remark) and 'barb' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for barbarous that I've seen before include "Exceedingly brutal" , "Brutal; uncivilised" , "Savage" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app