The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 plus 2 plus 1 plus 5 letter word ANY PORT IN A STORM
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
N
Y
P
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R
T
I
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A
S
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M
More clues leading to the result ANY PORT IN A STORM
- Desperate option many tars ponder ultimately?
- Take whatever’s offered — it could make you party on!
- When it’s rough, choice of wine is unimportant
- “No party”? 4, 8 or 24 would do
- Emergency accommodation when the weather’s bad could be no party
- No party gave solution to escape disaster
- Party nominators toyed with desperate choice
- Astronomy in part confusing, take what help you can get!
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Desperate option many tars ponder ultimately?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case desperate option many tars ponder ultimately? = any port in a storm.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.