The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 10 letter word MALEFACTOR
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
M
A
L
E
F
A
C
T
O
R
More clues leading to the result MALEFACTOR
- Villain leading man perhaps to draw in female
- Female embraced by guy in film, one with conviction?
- One that’s criminal, amoral etc with frequency?
- Criminal, female punching Humphrey Bogart, perhaps?
- Masculine fellow, one taking role as criminal
- Criminal Y chromosome?
- Reviewed bistrot/cafe La Maison: sandwiches “criminal“
- Flame flickering over Bela Lugosi say, villain
- Outlaw Y chromosome?
- Man’s steward is a criminal
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "the culprit" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case the culprit = malefactor.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 MALEFACTOR mean?
MALEFACTOR noun- A criminal or felon.
- An evildoer.