The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word SAGE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
A
G
E
More clues leading to the result SAGE
- Herb, guru
- Culinary herb in sink, last of thyme
- Learned custom abandoned by university
- Pundit's second childhood, for one
- Idle talk about the Fringe from Ernie Wise
- Wise man employed by news agency
- Talk a lot about eastern guru
- For one, since coming back
- Wise kind of 31
- Something established by habitual practice: going topless is wise
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Culinary herb" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case culinary herb = sage.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 SAGE mean?
SAGE noun- A wise person or spiritual teacher; someone of gravity and wisdom, especially, a teacher venerable for years, and of sound judgment and prudence; a grave or stoic philosopher.
- Wise.
- Grave; serious; solemn
- The plant Salvia officinalis and savory spice produced from it; also planted for ornamental purposes.
- Any plant in the genus Salvia
- Any of a number of plants such as sagebrush considered to be similar to Salvia officinalis, mostly because they are small shrubs and have gray foliage or are aromatic.
- The act of using the word or option sage in the email field or a checkbox of an imageboard when posting a reply.
- Word used in the email field of imageboards to prevent a bump of the post. Used as an option rather than a word in some imageboard software.