The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 8 plus 2 plus 4 letter word A FAREWELL TO ARMS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
F
A
R
E
W
E
L
L
T
O
A
R
M
S
More clues leading to the result A FAREWELL TO ARMS
- Bookshop may sell this in all the best branches?
- Work inspired by Venus de Milo?
- Book's first note: wretched mortal flees war
- Work of Ernest, self-aware mortal, rewritten?
- Wrote ‘False Alarm’, staggering novel
- Moving, self-aware, mortal work by earnest-sounding individual
- Hemingway’s double amputation?
- War alas felt more uncertain in novel
- Wrote 'False Alarm', staggering novel
- Last arrow female shot in tale of wartime romance
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Bookshop may sell this" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case bookshop may sell this = a farewell to arms.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.