The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word CHAOS
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
C
H
A
O
S
More clues leading to the result CHAOS
- Utter confusion caused by half of maps produced by mapmakers
- Democrat leaving republic, extremely upset, sees anarchy
- Tea given by empty officers’ mess
- Cleaner, without foundation, gets so upset causing utter confusion
- Tea, very large order? On the contrary
- Charles informally describing Oscar’s confused state
- Tumult of Charles in love – quite the reverse
- After tea there’s huge confusion
- Head of coaching has boxing ring in disarray
- Men with love for power creating anarchy
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "utter confusion" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case utter confusion = chaos.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.
What does CHAOS mean?
CHAOS noun- The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
- Any state of disorder; a confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.
- A behaviour of iterative non-linear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
- One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.
- A vast chasm or abyss.
- A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment.