Cryptic crossword clue
Gentle hit, initially, Billy Liar‘s out of print

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word BLOOP

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
B
L
O
O
P

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Gentle hit/Billy Liar/s" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case gentle hit/billy liar/s = bloop.
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 BLOOP mean?

BLOOP noun
  1. A low-pitched beeping sound.
BLOOP verb
  1. To make a hit just beyond the infield.
  2. To produce a low-pitched beeping sound.
  3. To cover up splices in a soundtrack tape to eliminate the unwanted noise they may produce.

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