The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word GRAFTER
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
G
R
A
F
T
E
R
More clues leading to the result GRAFTER
- Hard worker needing good support in the house?
- Good tennis player is one who puts in the hours
- Hard working individual in government obtains support for Upper House
- Hard worker working ultimately on beam
- One working hard cleared out gutter subsequently
- I really work as a joiner
- Greece in search of a hard worker
- Greek looking for hard worker
- One working hard close to fixing beam
- King once in search of a hard worker
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "one who puts in the hours" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case one who puts in the hours = grafter.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.