The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word MANGE
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
M
A
N
G
E
More clues leading to the result MANGE
- Roman general contracted disease
- Fruit mostly heading off endemic skin disease
- No end of tropical fruit heading for embarrassingly inflamed skin
- Person half-contracts animal disease
- Good to cut hair in irritating condition
- Disease magician catches close to London
- Shock of hair hiding onset of grisly skin problem
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Disease" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case disease = mange.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 MANGE mean?
MANGE noun- A skin disease of mammals caused by parasitic mites (Sarcoptes spp., Demodecidae spp.).