The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word CATEGORY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
A
T
E
G
O
R
Y
More clues leading to the result CATEGORY
- Chartered accountant, for example, participating in Conservative group
- Type of sporting grey coat
- Can briefly attempt to acquire self esteem in class
- Group around judge filled with self-esteem
- Queen, perhaps, with European renown but no line in class
- Familiar female film star, bloody sort
- Kind of parable in which tiger perhaps drives all away
- Kind of animal story with a message — all is lost
- Class, for example, taken to heart by one Conservative after another
- Reportedly see a Conservative without, say, class
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "sort" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case sort = category.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 CATEGORY mean?
CATEGORY noun- A group, often named or numbered, to which items are assigned based on similarity or defined criteria.
- A collection of objects, together with a transitively closed collection of composable arrows between them, such that every object has an identity arrow, and such that arrow composition is associative.