The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word MACE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
M
A
C
E
More clues leading to the result MACE
- Club's male champion
- Man's first card, a club
- Spice may appear curious, especially for starters
- Staff might be male and very good
- Spice meat and chew oddly
- Club that's used in riot control
- Sequence from The Cameraman rewound for club
- Head of management with excellent official staff
- Nutmeg’s sibling is a symbol of authority in the 12 down
- Foremost of motels with superb staff
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Club" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case club = mace.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 MACE mean?
MACE noun- A heavy fighting club.
- A ceremonial form of this weapon.
- A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.
- An officer who carries a mace as an emblem of authority.
- A knobbed mallet used by curriers in dressing leather to make it supple.
- A billiard cue.
- To hit someone or something with a mace.
- An old money of account in China equal to one tenth of a tael.
- An old weight of 57.98 grains.
- A spice obtained from the outer layer of the kernel of the fruit of the nutmeg.
- Tear gas or pepper spray, especially for personal use.
- To spray in defense or attack with mace (pepper spray or tear gas) using a hand-held device.
- To spray a similar noxious chemical in defense or attack using an available hand-held device such as an aerosol spray can.