The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word AMIS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
A
M
I
S
More clues leading to the result AMIS
- English writer not quite right? Not quite
- Part of crust rolled up as wrap
- Friends of French literary father and son
- Friends abroad are almost wrong
- Author wrong not to finish
- Novelist makes friends across the Channel
- A little sad, Everyman’s a rejected novelist
- Novelist‘s friends in Toulouse
- Novelist‘s foreign friends
- Author with friends abroad
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Friends of French/literary father and son" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case friends of french/literary father and son = amis.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.