The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word BIOGRAPHY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
B
I
O
G
R
A
P
H
Y
More clues leading to the result BIOGRAPHY
- Criminal charge extremely heavy after one’s put in can for life
- Book from past — I love plot concealed
- I go back and knock hard, entering by 1, say
- Account yielding interest depending on the figure?
- Life drawing taken by boy I fancy
- Literary work one penned in youth contains plot
- Life story revealed by a lawyer — one picked out from a list of references
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "life/life" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case life/life = biography.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 BIOGRAPHY mean?
BIOGRAPHY noun- A person's life story, especially one published.
- The art of writing this kind of story.
- To write a biography of.