The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word CURTAILED
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
C
U
R
T
A
I
L
E
D
More clues leading to the result CURTAILED
- Clipped dog that's made better all round
- Dog with dog lead evenly trimmed
- Scoundrel followed, getting cut off
- Dog with a part cut off? That’s docked
- Dogged mongrel’s first to get docked
- Poor dog with appendage possibly docked
- Trimmed dog's tail and head evenly
- Troubled by brief that's limited
- Scoundrel felt sick about time stopped short
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "cut off" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case cut off = curtailed.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 CURTAILED mean?
CURTAILED verb- To cut short the tail of an animal
- To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.
- To limit or restrict, keep in check.