The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word ITSELF
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
I
T
S
E
L
F
More clues leading to the result ITSELF
- Reflexive pronoun is left out
- Reflexive form of response to “what’s your favourite Xmas film?”
- Emphatically the thing small island left at sea
- Criminal is left alone
- Stifle cast – object emphatically
- On reflection, that is left, not right
- Emphatic view of it is restricting tense team in Bundesliga?
- Helping of trifle stingy? Sending it back is emphatically the thing
- Will’s after vermouth – the very thing!
- Middle-earth’s Galadriel, perhaps — the one and only?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "alone" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case alone = itself.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 ITSELF mean?
ITSELF pronoun- (reflexive pronoun) it; A thing as the object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject
- It; used to intensify the subject, especially to emphasize that it is the only participant in the predicate
- It; used to refer back to an earlier subject