The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 12 letter word CHASTISEMENT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
H
A
S
T
I
S
E
M
E
N
T
More clues leading to the result CHASTISEMENT
- One's wearing simple pieces, time for dressing down?
- Test machines out — a punishing experience
- Beating regularly ahead, so tries to stick around
- Beating faulty machine tests
- Criminal snatches item, getting reprimand
- Mate snitches, possibly resulting in a beating
- It is given to correct the mess I can’t put right
- Change in the semantics gets criticism
- Misuse of the semantics draws criticism
- Carpeting is installed by virtuous people before time
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Beating" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case beating = chastisement.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.