The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 2 plus 3 letter word PLAY HARD TO GET
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
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More clues leading to the result PLAY HARD TO GET
- Feign reluctance to take part in sports complex?
- Be apparently unwilling to see obscure piece of theatre?
- Act as if not interested in very abstruse drama?
- Pat halted orgy, in order to ____ ?
- Baffling drama? Pretend not to be interested
- Adopt lethargy in new relationship?
- Be reluctant to co-operate in obscure piece of drama
- Instruction resulting in hatred got set out to allure?
- Drama not easily understood? Pretend to lack interest
- Pretend to be uninterested in baffling drama?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Be apparently unwilling/obscure piece of theatre?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case be apparently unwilling/obscure piece of theatre? = play hard to get.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.