The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ELEMENTAL
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
E
L
E
M
E
N
T
A
L
More clues leading to the result ELEMENTAL
- Rudimentary XI's first half unbalanced
- Primitive woman, by the sound of it, and crazy!
- Basic way to describe aluminium?
- Primitive tribe finally allowed a man to keep servants
- Let enamel fuse! That’s basic
- Basic English to the French intellectual
- Basic loss of mass from the Spanish cheese
- Basic ingredient at meal when setter is away
- Simple iron, say … ball’s out of bounds
- Cooked eel with crackers is basic
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Basic" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case basic = elemental.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 ELEMENTAL mean?
ELEMENTAL noun- (theosophy) A creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with, or composed of, one of the classical elements: air, earth, fire and water or variations of them like ice, lightning, etc. They sometimes have unique proper names and sometimes are referred to as Air, Earth, Fire, or Water.
- Of, relating to, or being an element (as opposed to a compound).
- Basic, fundamental or elementary.
- Of the ancient supposed elements of earth, air, fire and water.
- (by extension) Of, or relating to a force or nature, especially to severe atmospheric conditions.