The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word RUNT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
R
U
N
T
More clues leading to the result RUNT
- Little pig and the noise it makes if head's cut?
- Weakling managed support at the very end
- Sound from pig not good — it being this?
- Infantryman seeing off first little guy
- Small part of litter found in bar untouched
- Control temperature for weakling
- Weakest Link to be broadcast on time
- Smallest member of group not missing odd pieces
- Small pig has nose tip stuck in furrow
- Manage temperature for a little one
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "smallest of the brood" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case smallest of the brood = runt.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 RUNT mean?
RUNT noun- The smallest animal of a litter.
- (by extension) The smallest child in the family.
- Undersized or stunted plant, animal or person.
- An Ethernet packet that does not meet the medium's minimum packet size of 64 bytes.
- A single word (or portion of a hyphenated word) that appears as the last line of a paragraph.
- A breed of pigeon related to the carrier pigeon.
- A hardened stem or stalk of a plant.
- A bow.