The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word IAMBS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
I
A
M
B
S
More clues leading to the result IAMBS
- At front, snow by massed artillery is backed-up two feet
- Bits of poetry from writer’s American rubbish
- Those bragging about, primarily, big feet?
- One little creature’s lacking head and feet
- Italian taking role of novice in Elia’s verses
- Ambi's put out some poetic measures
- Brand of cat food containing bird's head and feet
- Peculiar bias about male feet
- Clever technology reversed doctor’s feet
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Bits of poetry" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case bits of poetry = iambs.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 IAMBS mean?
IAMBS noun- A metrical foot in verse consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.