The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 1 plus 3 letter word SMELL A RAT
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
S
M
E
L
L
A
R
A
T
More clues leading to the result SMELL A RAT
- Begin to suspect deception in small rate changes
- Archaeologist Croft tucking into fish that’s suspect?
- Sense something fishy – set alarm off to catch rudd primarily
- Have suspicions, lets alarm off
- Suspect let alarms off
- Small tear developed? Suspect trouble
- Was suspicious — something fishy about Test cricketer
- Suspect lets alarm off
- Something fishy about someone making over 500 runs? Suspect something is afoot
- Suspect something’s afoot when alarm’s let off
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Begin to suspect deception" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case begin to suspect deception = smell a rat.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.