The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 10 letter word PSYCHOPATH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
P
S
Y
C
H
O
P
A
T
H
More clues leading to the result PSYCHOPATH
- Crazy paving dreadfully disturbed individual
- Film course for one with a problem
- Heartless spy gets cut to pieces when in way of lunatic
- Potential butcher filleted scraggy piece of meat en route
- Shy chap high with pot could be an anti-social person
- Quiet, shy chap to turn into a violent one
- Old film track — one needing treatment
- Violent criminal blocks way with extremely scary axe
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Violent criminal" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case violent criminal = psychopath.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 PSYCHOPATH mean?
PSYCHOPATH noun- A person with a personality disorder indicated by a pattern of lying, cunning, manipulating, glibness, exploiting, heedlessness, arrogance, delusions of grandeur, sexual promiscuity, low self-control, disregard for morality, lack of acceptance of responsibility, callousness, and lack of empathy and remorse. Such an individual may be especially prone to violent and criminal offenses.
- A person with no moral conscience who perpetrates especially gruesome or bizarre violent acts.
- A person diagnosed with antisocial or dissocial personality disorder.
- A person diagnosed with any mental disorder.