Maligns an awful line manager?

The answer to “Maligns an awful line manager?” in the The Times Cryptic crossword is SIGNALMAN — a 9-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Cryptic crossword on September 12, 2026, a Saturday puzzle, at 16-Down. Below you'll find why that fill fits, every other answer we've recorded for this clue, and links into the puzzle it came from.

“Maligns an awful line manager?” answer

SIGNALMAN (9 letters)

Reveal the solution one letter at a time with the tiles above if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Just want it outright? The answer is SIGNALMAN.

Why the answer is SIGNALMAN

Picture someone overseeing railway signals rather than workplace staff. 🚦

What does SIGNALMAN mean?

Reading the plain dictionary sense of SIGNALMAN is often the fastest way to see why it answers this clue.

When else has “Maligns an awful line manager?” appeared?

The Times Cryptic reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up, and what the answer was each time — handy when you're checking whether today's fill is the only one.

September 12, 2026 (most recent) → SIGNALMAN. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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