The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word OPTIONAL
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
O
P
T
I
O
N
A
L
More clues leading to the result OPTIONAL
- Voluntary mobile platoon capturing island
- Stone walls crushed into something extra?
- Voluntary platoon dispersed around island
- Voluntary work Latino vandalised
- Elective work by one of note when touring
- Discretionary rendering too plain
- Ring a friend about rise of chart-topping intro to trumpet voluntary
- Dubious plot to capture Scottish island is possible
- Gem carrying weight carrying current, if you will
- Left to choice in platoon, I suspect
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Discretionary" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case discretionary = optional.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 OPTIONAL mean?
OPTIONAL noun- Something that is not compulsory, especially part of an academic course.
- (sometimes capitalized) In various programming languages, a kind of variable that is assigned a specific data type but may or may not hold an actual value.
- Not compulsory; left to personal choice; elective.