The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word EXPONENTS
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More clues leading to the result EXPONENTS
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Champions" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case champions = exponents.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 EXPONENTS mean?
EXPONENTS noun- One who expounds, represents or advocates.
- The number by which a value (called the base) is said to be raised to a power in exponentiation: for example, the 3 in 2^3=8.
- The degree to which the root of a radicand is found, for example, the 2 in \sqrt[2]r=b.
- A manifestation of a morphosyntactic property.
- The part of a floating-point number that represents its exponent value.