The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word IPSO FACTO
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
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More clues leading to the result IPSO FACTO
- Some slips of actors through that act
- By its very nature top fiasco is disastrous
- . Refurbishing topic to involve furniture item as a direct consequence
- … as a result of that, seat is included in broadcast topic
- …thereby a cost of perhaps tiny sum originally
- Spoof act I find fault with, therefore
- Thereby extracted from clips of actors
- … top fiasco developing thereby
- … thereby one cop to cover seat
- By that cheapest possible settee, cot collapses
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "by that" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case by that = ipso facto.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.