The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word STARTLING
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
S
T
A
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More clues leading to the result STARTLING
- Get cracking with fish that's quite unexpected
- Extraordinary bitter - drink bottles
- Head of Telstar punches singer? Shocking!
- Surprising bird to nest around top of tree
- Remarkable bird circling peak in Tibet
- Begin with fish? That’s extraordinary!
- Winger receives tackle, initially producing a shock
- Unexpected police operation traps cunning criminal at last
- Flier gets overtime, which is alarming
- Astonishing bird grabbing beast’s tail
Buddy explains!
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 STARTLING mean?
STARTLING verb- To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.
- To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.
- To deter; to cause to deviate.
- A startle; a sudden motion or shock.
- Likely to startle; surprising; shocking.