The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word RILED
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
R
I
L
E
D
More clues leading to the result RILED
- Food shop to the left behind King's Cross
- Idler can become agitated
- One left evidently indebted and annoyed
- One given pound, apparently indebted, angered
- Free to admit the French must be annoyed
- Embarrassed around naked milf
- End of newspaper? I was first to get annoyed
- Upset in middle of plea, breaking free
- Annoyed that every other part of train went in front
- Angry king, I wouldn’t let others usurp my role?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "hot under collar" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case hot under collar = riled.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 RILED mean?
RILED verb- To make angry
- To stir or move from a state of calm or order