The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word LEARNED
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
L
E
A
R
N
E
D
More clues leading to the result LEARNED
- Acquired a word defining friend from Chambers?
- Erudite king with study facing north
- Being erudite, left and made money
- Composer shown way outside having great knowledge
- Erudite English composer in the outskirts of Leatherhead
- Academic lecturer made money
- Academic gained by working on novel, finally
- Brought home after lake picked up
- Left and got picked up
- To make stuffing went first for sage
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "picked up" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case picked up = learned.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 LEARNED mean?
LEARNED adjective- Having much learning, knowledgeable, erudite; highly educated.
- A courteous description used in various ways to refer to lawyers or judges, including:
- Scholarly (exhibiting scholarship)
- To acquire, or attempt to acquire knowledge or an ability to do something.
- To attend a course or other educational activity.
- To gain knowledge from a bad experience so as to improve.
- To study.
- To come to know; to become informed of; to find out.
- To teach.
- Derived from experience; acquired by learning.