Cryptic crossword clue
Critical factor put off worker — pit almost falling in 11

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 letter word DETERMINANT

I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
D
E
T
E
R
M
I
N
A
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T

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Critical factor" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case critical factor = determinant.
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 DETERMINANT mean?

DETERMINANT noun
  1. A determining factor; an element that determines the nature of something.
  2. A scalar that encodes certain characteristics of a given transformation matrix; the unique scalar function over square matrices which is distributive over matrix multiplication, multilinear in the rows and columns, and takes the value 1 for the unit matrix; abbreviated as: det.
  3. A substance that causes a cell to adopt a particular fate.
DETERMINANT adjective
  1. Serving to determine or limit; determinative.

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