The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word MUSIC HALL
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
M
U
S
I
C
H
A
L
L
More clues leading to the result MUSIC HALL
- Chum is dancing in front of everyone in entertainment venue
- One's doing a turn before tea in island theatre
- Is much excited by total theatre
- … beginning to smoke a chillum
- Chum is bewildered totally in variety theatre
- Form of variety before the ’50s, much as I recollected
- Variety of cash I dissipated in Hebridean isle
- Theatre is much abused by everyone
- Melodious line absorbing hearts in variety entertainment
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "variety" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case variety = music hall.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.