The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word TETRAGRAM
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
T
E
T
R
A
G
R
A
M
More clues leading to the result TETRAGRAM
- Berate beastly male following an offensive four-letter word
- Inspired by crude matter, newspaper producing four-letter word
- Four-letter word used by girl upset about closure of restaurant
- In retirement, Mrs Thatcher having to admit ‘time is a four-letter word‘
- Four-letter word that initially disturbed Margaret
- Dirty Targa term is a four-letter word
- About time Margaret brought back four-letter word
- Dali for instance created great art on Malta
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Dali for instance" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case dali for instance = tetragram.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.
Crossword Answer definitions
TETRAGRAM noun- A group of four letters.
- Any of the 81 sets of solid lines (⚊ for Heaven), once-broken lines (⚋ for Earth) and twice-broken lines (𝌀 for Man) formed by combinations of four monograms (two digrams or bigrams, in other words) in the divination of the Taixuanjing.