The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word YTTERBIUM
Y
T
T
E
R
B
I
U
M
More clues leading to the result YTTERBIUM
- My tribute to thrash metal
- Element of bitter rum that’s tasty to consume
- I’m buttery, meltingly soft, silvery metal
- Something on the table‘s delicious with bitter bananas inside
- An element of my tribute’s funny
- My tribute turned out to be elemental
- Greyish substance that's tasty, stuffed with bitter bananas
- Addition to table Betty Muir designed
- Element of delight expressed turns bitter within
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "An element" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case an element = ytterbium.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 YTTERBIUM mean?
YTTERBIUM noun- A metallic chemical element (symbol Yb) with an atomic number of 70.
- A single atom of this element.