The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word PORTRAYER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
O
R
T
R
A
Y
E
R
More clues leading to the result PORTRAYER
- Artist shows doorkeeper holding light pencil
- Painter of light held by old king Cole
- Artist dunking pencil into beer
- Artist wants Guinness maybe when eating fish
- Artist making plea getting awful rot accepted
- Artist needs beer to have inner spark
- One who describes fish caught by hotel employee
- Actor Cole harbors not much hope
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Artist" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case artist = portrayer.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.