The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word CATHAY
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
C
A
T
H
A
Y
More clues leading to the result CATHAY
- Siamese perhaps taking grass in China once
- Two common sources of allergy in China once
- Girl adopting a medieval name for China
- A yacht found destroyed in China years ago
- Old country jazz fan coming to dance
- China, something stacked behind the dude
- A yacht wrecked in China
- Animal food given to horses in China once
- Old country dance with jazz fan taking lead
- Jazz fan leading dance in China long ago
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "China years ago" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case china years ago = cathay.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.