The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word ITCHIER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
I
T
C
H
I
E
R
More clues leading to the result ITCHIER
- Causing more irritation, Christie scrapping second novel
- Current row involving church is more irritating
- The heartless rich I suspect to be more irritating
- Start off showing more malice, becoming more irritating
- Republican underpinning urge that is causing more irritation
- In jug with no opening for parole, one’s increasingly irritated
- Made more fretful when US ignored complicated heuristic
- Comparatively prickly, more like a Macbeth character deprived of whiskey
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Comparatively prickly" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case comparatively prickly = itchier.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 ITCHIER mean?
ITCHIER adjective- Having or creating an itch, causing a person or animal to tend to want to scratch.