The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word CHARADES
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
C
H
A
R
A
D
E
S
More clues leading to the result CHARADES
- Game at first, con artist enters the underworld
- Game swimmer diving initially into water, doing the backstroke
- Hears a CD prepared for Christmas party game?
- Party game involving hybridisation of cedar and ash?
- First two bits of hazel breaking scared wild game
- Absurd activities with some in Paris at back of old coach
- Cleaner with a dress, oddly, will be game
- Car heads off for game
- A card she played in party game
- Desperate search will include a day for such a game
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "game" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case game = charades.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 CHARADES mean?
CHARADES noun- A genre of riddles where the clues to the answer are descriptions or puns on its syllables, with a final clue to the whole.
- A single round of the game charades, an acted form of the earlier riddles.
- A play resembling the game charades, particularly due to poor acting.
- A deception or pretense, originally an absurdly obvious one but now in general use.
- A game in which each player acts out a word or phrase, usually based on puns of each syllable and without speaking, for the others to guess.