Cryptic crossword clue
Eager crowd in distress 5

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word UPSET

I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
U
P
S
E
T


Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "in distress" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case in distress = upset.
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 UPSET mean?

UPSET noun
  1. Disturbance or disruption.
  2. An unexpected victory of a competitor or candidate that was not favored to win.
  3. (automobile insurance) An overturn.
  4. An upset stomach.
  5. An upper set; a subset (X,≤) of a partially ordered set with the property that, if x is in U and x≤y, then y is in U.
  6. The dangerous situation where the flight attitude or airspeed of an aircraft is outside the designed bounds of operation, possibly resulting in loss of control.
UPSET verb
  1. To make (a person) angry, distressed, or unhappy.
  2. To disturb, disrupt or adversely alter (something).
  3. To tip or overturn (something).
  4. To defeat unexpectedly.
  5. To be upset or knocked over.
  6. To set up; to put upright.
  7. To thicken and shorten, as a heated piece of iron, by hammering on the end.
  8. To shorten (a tire) in the process of resetting, originally by cutting it and hammering on the ends.
UPSET adjective
  1. (of a person) Angry, distressed or unhappy.
  2. (of a stomach or gastrointestinal tract, referred to as stomach) Feeling unwell, nauseated, or ready to vomit.

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