The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word SCRAWLS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
C
R
A
W
L
S
More clues leading to the result SCRAWLS
- Goes slowly after son carelessly dashes off
- Puts down poorly fawn in middle of mosses
- Lax hands act sycophantically on board
- Last of traditionalists drives slowly, writes quickly
- Bad hands move slowly on board steamship
- Sloppy hands act sycophantically on board
- A little snake slithers and dashes off
- Moves slowly, after brief second dashes off
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Puts down poorly" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case puts down poorly = scrawls.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 SCRAWLS mean?
SCRAWLS noun- Irregular, possibly illegible handwriting.
- A hastily or carelessly written note etc.
- Writing that lacks literary merit.
- A broken branch of a tree.
- The young of the dog-crab.
- To write something hastily or illegibly.
- To write in an irregular or illegible manner.
- To write unskilfully and inelegantly.
- To creep; crawl; (by extension) to swarm with crawling things