The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word BELGIAN
B
E
L
G
I
A
N
More clues leading to the result BELGIAN
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Hercule Poirot, for example" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case hercule poirot, for example = belgian.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.