Cryptic crossword clue
Chemical ruined the soup perhaps

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 14 letter word SUPERPHOSPHATE

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
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Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Chemical" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case chemical = superphosphate.
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 SUPERPHOSPHATE mean?

SUPERPHOSPHATE noun
  1. A fertilizer produced by the action of concentrated sulfuric acid on powdered phosphate rock.
  2. A phosphate containing the greatest amount of phosphoric acid that can combine with the base.

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