The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word GAGES
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
G
A
G
E
S
Buddy explains!
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 GAGES mean?
GAGES noun- Something, such as a glove or other pledge, thrown down as a challenge to combat (now usually figurative).
- Something valuable deposited as a guarantee or pledge; security, ransom.
- A subspecies of plum, Prunus domestica subsp. italica.
- A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard
- An act of measuring.
- An estimate.
- Any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things
- A thickness of sheet metal or wire designated by any of several numbering schemes.
- The distance between the rails of a railway.
- A semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.
- The number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.
- Relative positions of two or more vessels with reference to the wind.
- The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.
- (plastering) The quantity of plaster of Paris used with common plaster to make it set more quickly.
- That part of a shingle, slate, or tile, which is exposed to the weather, when laid; also, one course of such shingles, slates, or tiles.
- A unit of measurement which describes how many spheres of bore diameter of a shotgun can be had from one pound of lead; 12 gauge is roughly equivalent to .75 caliber.
- (by extension) A shotgun (synecdoche for 12 gauge shotgun, the most common chambering for combat and hunting shotguns).
- A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe.