The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 letter word HOT PANTS
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
H
O
T
P
A
N
T
S
More clues leading to the result HOT PANTS
- Any number in peculiar top hats and skimpy female attire
- Garment – top designed in Portsmouth perhaps?
- Shorts all the rage? Nonsense!
- Struggles to breathe after getting pinched in tight clothes
- Clothing stolen from the lingerie department?
- Design of top welcomed by county, tight garment
- Shorts currently in demand with power workers
- Shorts all the rage? Nonsense
- Stolen rubbish just about covers the bare essentials
- Running a temperature, shows sign of exhaustion wearing these
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Clothing stolen from the lingerie department" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case clothing stolen from the lingerie department = hot pants.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.