The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word CRUSADE
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
C
R
U
S
A
D
E
More clues leading to the result CRUSADE
- Drive going backwards so landing in rough
- Southern area captured by dirty, holy war
- Campaign pressing South Africa on damage limitation
- Vulgar about Salvation Army campaign
- campaign
- When backing is needed in oil campaign
- Conservative stratagem adopts form of publicity campaign
- Salvation Army taking part in unrefined campaign?
- South America invested in oil campaign
- Salvation Army blocks unrefined moral campaign
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Drive" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case drive = crusade.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 CRUSADE mean?
CRUSADE noun- Any of the military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims.
- Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends. Especially, papal sanctioned military campaigns against infidels or heretics.
- A grand concerted effort toward some purportedly worthy cause.
- A mass gathering in a political campaign or during a religious revival effort.
- A Portuguese coin; a crusado.
- To go on a military crusade.
- To make a grand concerted effort toward some purportedly worthy cause.