The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word DEFLATE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
D
E
F
L
A
T
E
More clues leading to the result DEFLATE
- Let down plane into Chester’s river
- Let down lad with feet in need of treatment
- Dejected when damn rings puncture
- Into river, pad let down
- Let down recently
- Reduce level in river
- Unfinished document about uniform put down
- Lose wind when seeking muddy shoal in Cheshire estuary
- Diminish three consecutive semitones
- Collapse three notes
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Diminish" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case diminish = deflate.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 DEFLATE mean?
DEFLATE verb- To remove air or some other gas from within an elastic container, e.g. a balloon or tyre
- To cause an object to decrease or become smaller in some parameter, e.g. to shrink
- To reduce the amount of available currency or credit and thus lower prices.
- To become deflated.
- To let down or disappoint.
- To compress (data) according to a particular algorithm.