The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 6 letter word DISTRESS SIGNAL
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
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More clues leading to the result DISTRESS SIGNAL
- Girl’s staidness cracked: maybe a flare-up
- Woman’s hair and nails restyled around end of spring. Mayday?
- For Mayday, perhaps cut hair of gals in Barking?
- A girl’s dissent’s possibly an indication that urgent help is needed
- What might come from ship in danger — list is bad
- “Let your hair down”, gals, in training for Mayday!
- Gesture to the barber to cut one's hair? Not exactly
- Gesture to the barber to cut one’s hair? Not exactly
- Regularly admit emphasis on remarkable flare, for example
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "maybe a flare-up" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case maybe a flare-up = distress signal.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.