The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word ROSS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
R
O
S
S
More clues leading to the result ROSS
- Explorer went up south, rather than west side of Everest
- You must support second issue in argument for Herefordshire town
- Not one of 5 2 Mussorgsky carried about
- King succeeded capturing extremely large dependency
- Explorer gets obese, not good
- Disgraced broadcaster craftily won over the quaint English town
- Explorer, angry leader going out
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Explorer" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case explorer = ross.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.