Cryptic crossword clue
Employ so-called traditional churchyard residents 4

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word YEWS

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
Y
E
W
S

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "traditional churchyard residents" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case traditional churchyard residents = yews.
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 YEWS mean?

YEWS noun
  1. A species of coniferous tree, Taxus baccata, with dark-green flat needle-like leaves and seeds bearing red arils, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.
  2. (by extension) Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.
  3. Other conifers resembling plants in genus Taxus
  4. The wood of the such trees.
  5. A bow for archery, made of yew wood.

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