The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word UNNATURAL
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
U
N
N
A
T
U
R
A
L
More clues leading to the result UNNATURAL
- Tuna swimming around northern river? Weird
- Peculiar nun dancing in river
- Monstrous of Brown to capsize in a French river
- Unfortunately annual rut is affected
- In tunnel, a rut annually backed up, not flowing
- Bizarre U-turn Alan made
- Contrived U-turn Lana pulled off
- Fake news breaking: unionist article ultra militant
- Odd sister with head down standing beside banker in the east
- Artificial freak
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Fake" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case fake = unnatural.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 UNNATURAL mean?
UNNATURAL adjective- Not natural.
- Not occurring in nature, the environment or atmosphere
- Going against nature; perverse.