The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word MEASLY
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
M
E
A
S
L
Y
More clues leading to the result MEASLY
- Inferior male one avoids without trouble
- Pitiful debilitating affliction like case of lurgy
- Paltry bite to eat finally snaffled with cunning
- Miserable slice of meat I disposed of without difficulty
- Setter: one sneaky and skimpy?
- Mean of Boatman to get round answer with cunning
- Pitiful spades, coated in powder on the outside
- Millions readily shunned by one of miserable attitude
- Mean of this compiler, crafty concealing answer
- Gracious about jumble sale but not at all generous
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Paltry" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case paltry = measly.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 MEASLY mean?
MEASLY adjective- Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or trichinae (parasitic roundworms).
- Of a person: infected with measles.
- Small (especially contemptibly small) in amount.