The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word FIST
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
F
I
S
T
More clues leading to the result FIST
- Writing one’s found in newspaper
- Something packing a punch is in the paper
- Cardinal killing king and duke
- Duke is protected by fort
- Hand in certain position is shown in paper, daily
- Duke is featured in newspaper
- Small coin held in grip – a rappen?
- The hand is in the foot
- Duke succeeded in match
- Able to pocket second bunch of fives
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Hand in certain position" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case hand in certain position = fist.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 FIST mean?
FIST noun- A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.
- The pointing hand symbol ☞.
- The characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code.
- A person's characteristic handwriting.
- A group of men.
- The talons of a bird of prey.
- An attempt at something.
- To strike with the fist.
- To close (the hand) into a fist.
- To grip with a fist.
- To fist-fuck.
- The act of breaking wind; fise.
- A puffball.
- To break wind.