5 across
Conservative,
challenged,
losing
head,
snickered
(7)
Conservative, challenged, losing head, snickered (7)
hints
0
checks
0
hints
The definition is at the end of the clue.
How the clue works
The definition is snickered — that's your laughing sound you're after. You've got C (short for Conservative) stuck in front of HACKLED (challenged, think "got one's hackles up"), then losing head drops that opening H, leaving C and ACKLED together.