The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 letter word RED HERRING
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
R
E
D
H
E
R
R
I
N
G
More clues leading to the result RED HERRING
- Radical not right about husband? It’s misleading information
- What distracts ruddy husband, misbehaving
- Herd straying and straying? Don't follow it
- Fish bait, of a certain sort
- . Socialist woman’s circle that is misleading
- Misleading article about dead husband going astray
- . Soundly interpreted the woman’s call as a fallacy
- Revolutionary opera hero provides diversion
- The woman’s feeding a revolutionary group with misleading information
- Diversion created when derringer shot outside hotel
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "False lead" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case false lead = red herring.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.