The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word POLAR BEAR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
O
L
A
R
B
E
A
R
More clues leading to the result POLAR BEAR
- One used to cold parole bar possibly
- Animal in parable, or in another form
- Seal hunter directly opposite harbour
- Hairy figure to dismiss two batsmen, according to Spooner
- Park’s first wild arboreal mammal
- White hunter giving two identical hats to Dr Spooner
- Quietly coming upon exotic arboreal creature
- Leaders of parties on left and right support endangered species
- Predatory killer wrecked Pearl Harbor without limits
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Animal" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case animal = polar bear.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.