The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word MALTREAT
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
M
A
L
T
R
E
A
T
More clues leading to the result MALTREAT
- Drink whisky maybe, then tear around? You’ll get abuse
- Use roughly half of normal free entertainment
- Small nation carrying on with leader in tyrant, bully
- Damage sides of range in island close to resort
- Man lost the energy to deal with abuse
- Scotch perhaps about a time to bully
- Harm almost all matter?
- Abuse of whisky leads to red eyes and tantrums
- Misuse ragged material I left out for tailor at first
- Abuse, beat up doctor
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Damage" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case damage = maltreat.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 MALTREAT mean?
MALTREAT verb- To treat badly, to abuse.