The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word LOVELACE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
L
O
V
E
L
A
C
E
More clues leading to the result LOVELACE
- Poet’s line, one on compassion
- Eccentric Eve: local poet
- British radio astronomer missing last line by excellent poet
- Programmer‘s dearest material
- Poet to be very fond of Anglo-Catholic finery?
- Computing pioneer has nothing on Net
- Adore material produced by poet
- Adore material supplied by Cavalier poet
- Programmer's dearest material
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "poet" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case poet = lovelace.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.