The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 5 letter word PAPER TIGER
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
P
A
P
E
R
T
I
G
E
R
More clues leading to the result PAPER TIGER
- Daily row about golf figure who’s less powerful than he looks?
- Bold one in side, Republican figure with illusory power
- Cheeky one taken in by caller — a person who’s not a real threat
- Part of exam, oddly, I get right — not a real threat
- Daily has extraordinary grit about commencement of expose... results in a harmless threat
- Daily row about Germany's leader, not a real threat
- Daily row about golf organisation giving impression of power
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "figure who’s less powerful than he looks" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case figure who’s less powerful than he looks = paper tiger.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.